This Tuesday, I will vote for her, even though she is not up for re-election for another two years.
Old cars to get tax break Specialty plates no longer needed for fixed rate
BY PENELOPE OVERTON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN WATERBURY — A little-noticed provision in the state’s new motor vehicle law will bring tax relief to the owners of old classics and clunkers. But Waterbury, which stands to lose significant tax revenue from the change, is the only big city that isn’t going to make people work for their tax breaks. The law, which Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed in June, lowers the municipal tax assessment of vehicles at least 20 years old to no more than $500. Before the law was passed, the owners of older vehicles had to get a specialty license plate for antique cars to qualify for the $500 maximum assessment. This law extends the tax benefits long available to antique car collectors to people who drive old cars because they cannot afford new ones. Surprisingly, even clunkers get more valuable as the car gets older, leaving owners of cars that are barely roadworthy with rising tax bills. For example, assessors value a 19-year-old Buick Skylark at $1,500. A year later, the value rises to $3,325. More than 1,800 people in Waterbury will reap a tax savings from the new law, according to city records. A review of assessment records reveals a wide range of beneficiaries, from the owner of a 1986 Porsche, who would have saved $726 on car taxes if the assessment law had been in place last year, to the person who drives the 1985 Chevy Chevette, who would have shaved a mere 40 cents from her bill. “Sounds good to me,” said Alicia Piombo, who owns the highly-taxed Porsche. “We have antique insurance on it, but not the antique plates. My son uses the car, and he didn’t want to get the antique plates because he has a vanity plate. But the tax bill was very high, so I’ll take any break I can get.” The new law will have a big impact on cash-strapped cities, said the city’s tax assessor, David Dietsch, who is president-elect of the Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers. If this law had been in place last year, Waterbury would have lost about $115,000 in motor vehicle taxes, he said. That may be why many big cities in Connecticut don’t plan to automatically adjust their tax assessments for eligible vehicles. Dietsch said that Waterbury, with the support of Mayor Michael J. Jarjura, is one of only a few large cities that plans to adjust the value of the car before sending out July tax bills. He said a survey of members of the state association of assessors found that most big cities plan to make residents seek out the $500 assessment, either by applying for an older vehicle exemption, by appealing the value to the assessment appeals board or by scheduling an in-person interview with the assessor. Some assessors are even considering making the applicant prove that he or she has not modified the vehicle from its original condition when it rolled off the manufacturer’s floor, Dietsch said. While a collector can afford to track down original replacement parts, a typical 20-year-old Chevy Nova driver probably can’t, he said. Dietsch is encouraging fellow assessors to make the reduced assessments automatically available to owners. “People with money to buy antique cars have been benefiting from this law for a long time, but now people who simply can’t afford to replace their old cars can enjoy the same benefit,” Dietsch said. “If it was up to me, I would do away with the car tax altogether because it’s not worth my time, but fair is fair.”
