Canton's Car Tax Sticker Shock Explained

CANTON, CT — With tax bills out and due, many residents, including those in Canton, are noticing something different regarding their car taxes.

Essentially, state vehicle valuation laws now have older vehicles assessed higher than they used to be, resulting in a bit of sticker shock when the bills arrive.

Canton First Selectman Kevin Witkos recently offered up an explanation to local taxpayers.

"Simply, the state changed the way motor vehicle taxes are calculated," he said. "Previously, towns would utilize the market rate of a motor vehicle (think of the Kelly Blue Book value) multiply that by 70% to get the assessed value, and then multiply that by the mill rate to get the final bill due."
But that has now changed, according to Witkos.

"Currently, towns are required by state statute to use the MSRP (bye-bye, Kelly Blue Book) to get the value of the vehicle, and then a depreciation schedule (85%-15% over 20 years) is applied with a minimum of $500.00 in assessed value. This number is then multiplied by the mill rate to get the final bill due."