Boat registration fees. Loran C

[Mark Prouty]

You'll also pay personal property tax once your county tax collector discovers that you have that boat. Usually any new boat owner is reported to the county by the selling dealer. You will be paying another $200 per year, $140 on the hull, plus another $60 on the average 50hp outboard.

If you place your boat into any marina storage, either recurring monthly slip or dry storage, they will report its existance to the county assessor even if the selling dealer did not. Also, I believe the DMV who issue your annual vessel certificate will report your ownership to the county assessor.

It can't be. Warped Orwellian nightmare!!

I seriously never knew it was that bad. The red tape alone gotta feed an enormous bureaucracy. What are they going to keep track of next - the number of times you take a crap. Then, they'll encourage the kids to turn you in if you try to sneak one in.

on edit:
Oh, I forgot to add. You would have to pay your crap tax to another goverening agency - the sewer district.

Don't forget the neighborhood association.
* Any boat stored in a yard - pay extra association fees.
* Be sure it is one of the standard accepted colors.
* Appearance must meet standards.
* Can't be worked-on in the yard.

Sorry I digress.

[Captain Steve]

By Ted Bridis, The Associated Press Dec 15 2004 3:31PM


President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

Any shutdown of the network inside the United States would come under only the most remarkable circumstances, said a Bush administration official who spoke to a small group of reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity.

The GPS system is vital to commercial aviation and marine shipping.

The president also instructed the Defense Department to develop plans to disable, in certain areas, an enemy's access to the U.S. navigational satellites and to similar systems operated by others. The European Union is developing a $4.8 billion program, called Galileo.

The military increasingly uses GPS technology to move troops across large areas and direct bombs and missiles. Any government-ordered shutdown or jamming of the GPS satellites would be done in ways to limit disruptions to navigation and related systems outside the affected area, the White House said.

"This is not something you would do lightly," said James A. Lewis, director of technology policy for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's clearly a big deal. You have to give them credit for being so open about what they're going to do."

President Clinton abandoned the practice in May 2000 of deliberately degrading the accuracy of civilian navigation signals, a technique known as "selective availability."

The White House said it will not reinstate that practice, but said the president could decide to disable parts of the network for national security purposes.

The directives to the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department were part of a space policy that Bush signed this month. It designates the GPS network as a critical infrastructure for the U.S. government. Part of the new policy is classified; other parts were disclosed Wednesday.

The White House said the policies were aimed at improving the stability and performance of the U.S. navigation system, which Bush pledged will continue to be made available for free.

The U.S. network is comprised of more than two dozen satellites that act as beacons, sending location-specific radio signals that are recognized by devices popular with motorists, hikers, pilots and sailors.

Bush also said the government will make the network signals more resistant to deliberate or inadvertent jamming.

[richandlori]

We have two different threads going on here: GPS and Boat Taxes. My first comment is to the GPS. My government better damn well disable GPS if it feels that a national security threat is real. That Is exactly why Moe had a good comment that even with a GPS unit, you should still have charts for your area on board and be updating your position if you are in bad weather or offshore. The most likely way to loose the GPS is a equipment or battery failure, but at least in my case with a 6 and 7 year old on board, SAFTEY and the ability to get home on plan B or even plan C and D is as important as having the boat in the first place.

On the taxes and this may pi$$ some of you off, but I am just being honest and it was all LEGAL. I was able to take advantage of the OLD california sales tax law that exempted you from sales tax on a vehicle (car/boat/motorhome/RV/Ect) bought out of state and not brought into or used in the state of Ca for 90 days. That saved me about $2000 in Ca sales taxes) . As of October 1st, that law was changed from 90 days to 365 days. Now the Mega-yacht owners will just keep their boat in Mexico for a year (I actually know two people who are doing this to save about $60,000 and $120,000 each on their Mega-yachts, by the way).

At the tender age of 33, I have seen enough in life to realize that the general rules of society often don't apply to those with tons of money. If you have a house in Mexico, France and a few in the US, you will just buy your big ticket items in Mexico and have your captian bring your boat up when needed or fly down on your Gulf4 to use it. No matter how many laws and road blocks that government tries to pass to keep people with big money from avoidng taxes, the people with the big $ are typically smarter than the government (or they contribute to their campaigns and buy them off). Heck I am just a typical upper middle class citizen of this great country, but I was able to figure out a way to buy my boat in Nevada and LEGALLY pay no california state sales tax and save $2000. Now if I can work the system and save $2000, you can bet that when it comes to saving thousands of dollars people will get damn creative.

I have owned a boat for the last 12 years and have never paid any personal tax assessment, not a penny and have always had it DMV registered and I bought it from a dealer, so I don't know what to say about the personal tax issue? I do suspect that I will not rock the boat and go looking to pay, but if they find me, then fine they can have more blood money.

Rich