I too feel the pain. When I lived in California I thought the taxes were high but now I see VA is high too. What are the officials smoking around here? They must be high to assess my car at thousands more than what I paid for it ... ugh!!!

 

Both! Read post #1 in this thread.

 

Also, what's with the service charge for paying online?

 

I think the reason VA tax went up on some MINIs is that all MINIs were treated the same in past years--this year they are differentiating between the MC and the MCS, so if you have an MCS you are now paying the "correct" tax. You got a break in previous years . . . . .

In many states the "tax" is included in the annual registration fee--in VA it is just called what it is.

The processing fee for online payment is to cover the percentage charged by the credit card companies. Since the state, er, the "commonwealth", does not want to do business with credit card companies, it oursources the online payment to a company that includes the credit card fee as well as a processing fee of their own.

 

you can do a "e-check" for free

 

I thought I was the only this happened to.
I was a part-time resident in Fairfax this year until I moved back to Arlington. My assessment value went up in Fairfax, yet went down in Arlington. I contacted the assessment office through email and asked if this was right. They said it was and that I should tell Arlington so they can fix theirs. Yeah right!

 

I was too much in a hurry to make the payment and didn't even see it

All for the pleasure of not having to buy a stamp