Time for a major rant!
This little doozy has been gnawing at me for over 4 months, ever since I purchased my new to me, but definitely used handicap accessible van, and got charged $800 sales tax by the State of Maine for handicap equipment that had already been taxed once before!
INCREDIBLE! RIDICULOUS! OUTLANDISH! How could the very state I live in hold out their greedy little fingers and tax me just because I’m disabled?
Let me explain…
Earlier this summer I finally made the decision to get a new handicap accessible van. When I say new I mean slightly used/new to me, because there’s no way in hell I’m going to pay $60,000+ for an overpriced handicap accessible van that is little more than a $25,000 van with a lowered floor and foldout ramp. I started looking used, and called the two handicap vehicle dealers in Maine only to find they’re equally proud of their used inventory and charge $40,000+ for a low mileage 3-4-year-old van. So, I turned to eBay and got looking, finally after a few months finding the perfect van from a private seller. Just to make sure I was getting a deal, I told the two handicap van dealers exactly what they were competing against, a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan Braun Entervan XT conversion with 25,807 miles, 3,168 miles on the conversion for $27,000. Their response, knowing that I was a very real buyer ready to go today, was $35,900 for a van with 8,000 more miles. NOT LIKELY!
After several emails back and forth, learning that the seller had purchased the van just months before, and was only selling because his father had more quickly than expected passed away from a degenerative disease, I became comfortable enough to buy the van sight unseen. So I committed to the deal, sent my sister and her husband south on the Amtrak to southern Connecticut, and made the biggest vehicle purchase of my life without even rolling wheel into the van.
And what a great deal I got! Upon making the very long journey to Northern Maine, and arriving on my front doorstep I saw this absolutely beautiful red van. Like amazingly perfect, still smell the new car smell inside, holy cow I have the absolute awesomeness of new vehicles! YAY!
Now onto the tax stuff…
I soon figured out what an incredible deal that I got! The people who sold me this van provided me with their original receipt showing the following:
Used Vehicle Price: $15,300
Conversion Price: $21,700
Subtotal: $37,000
The sales tax in Pennsylvania, where the van was originally registered, is 6% which came to $918.00. In Pennsylvania they only charge sales tax for the purchase price of the vehicle.
Now on to the Maine Department of Motor Vehicle I arrive at the DMV with all my paperwork, including this previous registration, and a further breakdown showing that of the $27,000 I paid for my new van only 41% of that, $11,000 was for the actual vehicle, and the rest, $16,000, for the handicap conversion part of the purchase price. You think they gave a crap about that?!? Heck no, The State of Maine wanted me to pay sales tax on the entire $27,000.
I said that’s ridiculous and nicely pointed out how foolish it was to the DMV attendant. She agreed, but said there was nothing she could do, but there was a phone number in Augusta I could call. So I got out of line, called that number and again was told I had to pay taxes on the entire purchase price. I talked to this lady in Augusta about how ridiculous this was, how I was being forced to pay taxes on handicap accessible equipment that had already been taxed once before, and she not so sincerely said… “Sorry, that’s just the way it is.”
Outraged, I left the DMV without registering my vehicle and made a number of phone calls. I called Maine AlphaOne, the state of Maine Law Library, one of my friends who is heavily involved in state politics, and researched the Internet. And what did I find, but Legislative Document 447 “An Act to Exempt from Sales Tax the Sales of Adaptive Equipment To Make a Vehicle Handicapped Accessible” which was proposed in 2003 by the 121st Maine Legislator.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
This bill expands the sales tax exemption to include the sale of certain adaptive equipment. This change will reduce sales and use tax collections by an estimated $32,703 in fiscal year 2003-04 and $47,634 in fiscal year 2004-05. The reduction of these tax collections will decrease the amounts transferred to the Local Government Fund for state-municipal revenue sharing in those years by $1,701 and $2,477. The resulting net reduction of General Fund revenue is estimated to be $31,002 in fiscal year 2003-04 and $45,157 in fiscal year 2004-05, based on an effective date of October 1, 2003.
Fiscal Disposition: Ought Not to Pass Pursuant to Joint Rule 310 03/25/03.
More outraged, I wheel back into my handicap accessible van, and head over to the Department of Motor Vehicle and pay $1,350 sales tax, of which $800 was for sales tax on handicap accessible equipment.
How does this make sense?!?
Not only do I have to pay thousands and thousands of extra dollars every year for my extensive medical and home healthcare aid cost, have my earning potential significantly challenged due to my very real disability, but on top of having to pay an extra $15-30k for a vehicle, I also have to pay the state their cut… their tax on me being disabled. IT’S FREAKING RIDICULOUS!
So yeah, I’m ranting now and very upset now, but rightfully so. How does it make sense that we as a society, we as the State of Maine tax our disabled population extra just because they are disabled.
Arghhhhhhhhhhh! They are charging me an extra $800 on the sales tax for my handicap accessible equipment just so the state can make an extra $40-$50k! ACK!
Writing my representatives again, and by golly I’d better get a response this time!
dont give up the fight my friend ever there all greedy in state government just like federal government employees they only care about them selves not the people that pay them
Dennis, thanks for the message! Planning to make several phone calls this morning with my state legislators to discuss the incredible outpouring of support and see if one of them will take care of this injustice and help me make it right. I’ll follow up with more details and keep fighting!
Mike,
It’s one more reason that I’m living in Florida now. No income tax and a lot lower DMV fees. I feel for ya.
Good luck trying to straighten Corriveau’s wind generator. Hopefully a win win for both of you.
Yeah… I think even our state’s governor thought the same thing when he first jumped into office! Hoping I can help out with Dave’s wind turbine, but we definitely have a few challenges to overcome before we get it spinning and making electricity. Great hearing from you!
Let me first congratulate you on finding an awesome van for a decent price. But you must understand that Maine needs all the money it can get since it is one of the eleven states in the U.S. whose welfare population exceeds the number of people who actually work. “Do these welfare recipients have funtional arms?” you ask. Well, yes, but… “Do they have functional legs as well?’ Again, yes, but… “So why are they unable to work?” I believe some of them, for whatever legitimate reason, are unable to work. But I also beleive a lot of them are fully able to perform, at least to some extent, certain tasks which could result in a weekly paycheck that they could use to support themselves. It isn’t that they are unable to work, they are simply willing to as long as our governing bodies can rely on folks like you and me to hand over our hard earned money to them. This is where I get to the point, my friend. Maine isn’t discriminating against you because you are handicapped. Maine is discriminating against you because you are gainfully employed, able to support yourself, and are therefore able to help support those who are unwilling to do so. If it will make you feel any better, I am also descriminated against by Maine state government for being able to pay my own way. It isn’t right, it’s just the way it is.
In closing, I wish you good luck in your future endeavors whatever they might be!
Sincerely,
H. Dawson
Know exactly how you feel Mike, the same thing happened to us, our van is pretty close to the amt. you paid for your van. Ours was delivered to us from AMS Vans out of Georgia. When we went to reg. our van we were the same thing.
Hey Cheryl, thanks for sharing! It’s extremely helpful to have other examples of folks already battling enough challenges as it is, and then handing over huge amounts of their very limited income to the state for a tax on disability equipment. Take my previous black van I just sold over the weekend. I purchased it from someone who paid sales tax on the adaptive equipment, then I paid more sales tax on the adaptive equipment, and now the guy who just bought it for me will yet again day more sales tax on the adaptive equipment! Three times taxed handicapped modifications!!!
Is there a way that these bill of sales could be written for the vehicle not including the addaptive equipment and a seperate one for the equipment ? Would that be a way around the problem ? Not the best answer but a thought.
I’m sure there are all kinds of ways that bills of sale can (and often are) written to minimize taxes when people buy used vehicles, but none of them are legal or make the tax man happy. What I’m trying to accomplish here is some very real change to our legal/tax systems to fix this ridiculous tax.
Government may be a necessity in some aspects of our lives, but that’s just ridiculous! Everywhere you turn Uncle Sam is looking for his cut, and most of the time, and especially in this instance, for what?! Mike you’re an inspiration brother, hope all is well. Dan Harvey (Orono, Justin Pinette’s old roommate)
Well hello! Can you believe it’s been already 10 years since those days!
Just doing what I can every day to make my life and others better. Hopefully I can talk some sense into these government people if I can get any of them to return my phone calls!!! Won’t give up till they do!
That is ridiculous! Maine is absurd with it’s taxes and fee’s and tolls for roads long paid for. Business’s are flying out of the state at an exponential rate and these morons propose more and more taxes, fee’s and tolls. I’ve had it with Maine, been here most of my 44 years and would love to move to Texas or Alaska, it’s not the state of Maine, it’s the morons that run it. By the way nice ride! And dog!
Thanks Jack! Feel like I definitely lucked out with the van, and the only thing I can say about Caleb… ABSOLUTE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD! I definitely hit the jackpot!
Seems to be a reoccurring theme, people’s frustrations with taxes in Maine. I normally try to stay out of the whole political low/high tax debate, but this is just too glaringly ridiculous. Something needs to be done!
Wow buddy! This is an example of things in the world the definitely don’t make sense! Its the good people like you that really make this world go round though… keep fighting stuff like this brother! miss you my friend!
Thanks buddy! I try… I try! I won’t stop making a fuss until somebody comes to the senses and helps me push for some reasonable tax reform in regards to this.
Even more ridiculous, check out the main sales tax reference where they say:
Crutches, canes, walkers and wheelchairs sold for the use of sick, injured or disabled persons are exempt. Sales of crutches, canes, walkers and wheelchairs for rental use are taxable.
There is no exemption in the Sales and Use Tax Law for items other than crutches, canes, walkers and wheelchairs purchased to alleviate or compensate for impaired mobility. Some examples of items that are subject to tax are wheelchair lifts, modifications to motor vehicles to make them operable by handicapped persons and motor vehicles that have been so modified, and materials used in the construction of wheelchair ramps or other alterations to real property to make it accessible to handicapped persons.
Almost like, hey… Here’s a tax exemption on your wheelchair, but don’t think about us helping you go anywhere or get inside your home!
That’s unbelievable! I have a friend in a wheelchair who uses hand controls. She said when she bought her car, in Texas, there is no sales tax on the vehicle if it is to be used by or for the transport of a person who is disabled. (I don’t know how they figure out when latter qualification applies.) It has to be the primary vehicle…she can’t, for example, buy a car for her son and get that tax-free.
Keep fighting the good fight!
Hey Cheryl! Now that’s something… Here we charge you taxes for the adaptive equipment in Maine, and they give you a tax break for the whole vehicle in Texas. INCREDIBLE! Honestly don’t know if I even feel like that’s right, making us disabled folks pay less than our counterparts, but at the very least we shouldn’t be taxed extra just for our challenges.
Definitely keeping up the good fight, but not getting a whole lot of response back from government. Guess I’ll have to start making a bit more noise!
Hi! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering
if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment
form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one?
Thanks a lot!
No problem with the off-topic…
I find Akismet does a good enough job keeping spammers away, that I haven’t needed to implement CAPTCHA for my site yet, but I have used SI CAPTCHA on other websites with good success.
hey….I have been a quadrapaligic since 2009. like yourself, I am a elec. engineer and I am always trying to figure out new ways to make life easier. My long term girlfriend of 9 years is from Utah. We live in Arizona north of Scottsdale in a town called Cave Creek. If you wouldn’t mind comparing notes give me a call sometime. 480 *** ****. my name is Rich
Hey Rich, reached out to you through your email address. Would love to connect and see what a few electrical engineering quadriplegics could come up with. So hello and check your inbox!
Mike,
I am a former Michigan legislator, who also had polio at age 3 1/2, paralyzed left arm only, so I am fortunate (now have some limited use of it but no gripping power).
Have you contacted and set up meetings with Representative and Senator? Chair and vice chair of committees (Health & Human services, state & Local Government, Transportation that would promote an exemption bill?
When writing, after your initial meetings with your own House and Senate members, CC the executive branch and House and Senate leadership.
If they seem to ignore your request start, a media campaign, do news releases to all media that covers your area and state.
I would probably start doing news releases as soon as you have setup your first meeting OR if they refuse to announce the refusal to meet with you—-send it to your Legislators first.
When doing a news release—–Write the story the way you would like it to appear from the reporter’s perspective, ALWAYS include “quotes” from yourself and indicate they may plagiarize the hell out of your news release. Most reporters are extremely busy, if you write well they will use a large amount of your copy. I have even had reporters print my releases word for word, except they added their byline to it.
Remember a Reporters 5 W’s, for good reporting, WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, some add HOW for clarity (should be covered by Why, or what or When) I would also request that you see the finished article before it goes to print to verify accuracy (don’t expect this to happen, except very rarely).
Also try to contact any other organizations that would benefit from this change, such as the, Disability Rights Center of Maine (federally funded), Wounded Warrior Project, others are listed here http://www.abilitymaine.org/resource/melinks.html .