Personal Property Tax

Neon Memes • With luck, Missourians reading this blog will have paid their 2008 personal property tax before the December 31 deadline, lest they incur a penalty with interest. I did so, with a groan, in mid-November: $94.04 on my 2002 Ford ZX2. Although I toiled for 12 years at the "Big Four" accounting firm of Ernst & Young, alas, I must confess that personal property tax mystifies me; it seemingly ranks as the municipal equivalent of the gift that keeps on giving―or more precisely, the levy that keeps on leeching. By way of example, a quick calculation reveals I've paid $646.43 in that tax to date on the ZX2. The total so far approaches half of the car's current assessed value, $1,330; moreover, the '08 levy, which includes an $8 vehicle license tax, represents 7.07 percent of that current assessed value. According to a pie chart provided by the office of Gregory F.X. Daly, St. Louis' collector of revenue, 58.8 percent of the '08 personal property tax funds the St. Louis Public Schools, with another 20.4 percent underwriting municipal operations. Thank the stars that my hard-earned shekels support such sterling, irreproachable endeavors! Otherwise, I might feel as if I were being bilked. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor