Car
tax should come back to
county
By
Laura Hagan
lhagan@owentonnewsherald.com
New car buyers may be
keeping tax money out of Owen County, and they might not realize
it.
With no new-car dealerships in Owen County, residents wanting
to buy new automobiles have to go outside the county. When doing
so, however, they end up registering their car in the county where
they bought the car.
Stuart Bowling of Bowling Insurance says he registers his cars
in Owen County, even if he doesn’t buy them here.
“(Some people) don’t think about that part of it,”
Bowling said.
He said used cars are usually already licensed to the county in
which they were first bought. To register a new car in Owen County,
a request has to be made at the dealership at the time of purchase.
County Clerk Joan Kincaid said there is a 6-percent sales tax
on all new vehicles sold in Kentucky. Of that percentage, the
county where the car is registered gets 3 percent.
There are currently 13,511 cars registered in the county.
When buying a new car, the dealership will give a title application
and title to the buyer. They are then taken to the local county
clerk’s office. The dealer can put the information in their
system and make it available to the specific county.
Bowling said he was concerned about the issue because he has seen
new cars in the county with tags from other counties and wants
to make sure people know that it affects the amount of tax money
Owen County receives.
“We’ve always tried to tell people to request their
registration be done here,” Kincaid said, “so that
the money can go to their county.”
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