House lawmakers are passing a bill that allows counties to charge an administrative fee for processing titles that’re received by mail.
Republican Tim Goodwin is the prime sponsor. He says the bill allows counties to recoup some cost incurred by registering vehicles owned by those from other states. He points to South Dakota’s excise tax.
“A lot of states around us have up to 6-6.5 percent excise tax. We have a four percent,” Goodwin says. “You can do the math if you just bought a $200,000 Winnabego. A lot of these people—they’re from Arizona, they’re from all over. They’re not snowbirds, they’ve never even been to the county they’ve registered their vehicles in.”
Goodwin says Pennington County gets a large portion of out-of-state titles because—in addition to low excise tax—it does not have a wheel tax. He says the $25 dollar fee is optional for counties who wish to implement it.
It now heads to the state Senate.