Missouri and Kansas have some of the highest property taxes on vehicles in the country

Many taxpayers associate the concept of “property tax” with the amount you have to pay based on the value of your home. But in Kansas and Missouri, possessions like vehicles, machinery, and even your crops and livestock are taxed as well.

Both states collect property taxes annually on “personal” property, which for most people means vehicles like cars, trucks and motorcycles.

Kansas’ deadline to declare their personal property to the state is just over a week away, and Missouri’s has already passed — although late fees won’t be charged until May 1. One reader recently wondered how Kansas’ and Missouri’s vehicle tax rates compare to the rest of the country.

A recent report from the financial aggregation site WalletHub states that 24 states and Washington, D.C., charge no vehicle property taxes to residents.

This isn’t quite true — an analysis by The Star found 27 states (including D.C.) that don’t technically charge personal property taxes on vehicles, but 15 of them do charge other annual taxes based on car ownership. These come in the form of annual registration taxes, use taxes, taxes based on the vehicle’s weight and more.

Missouri’s and Kansas’ car tax rates

WalletHub ranks Missouri’s “effective” vehicle tax rate as the fourth-highest in the nation out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report lists this rate as around 2.48%. Kansas is not far behind with an “effective” vehicle tax rate of 2.04%, the eighth-highest in the nation.

According to the report’s methodology, this amount was calculated by comparing actual vehicle tax payments to the value of a popular vehicle.

“For each state, we assumed all residents own the same vehicle: a Toyota Camry LE four-door sedan — 2023’s highest-selling car — valued at $26,420, as of January 2024,” the report states. This provided a general estimate of the average car owner’s tax rate, rather than calculating the true median rate that residents are charged.

The report found the highest “effective” vehicle personal property tax rate in Virginia at 3.97%, and the lowest above zero in Louisiana at just 0.1%.

But personal property taxes aren’t the only annual payments that vehicle owners must make to their states. Here’s how vehicle taxes compare across the country.

States with no annual tax on vehicle ownership

Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island have no personal property tax on cars — and don’t charge other annual taxes on most passenger vehicles, either.

These 12 states may still charge property taxes on specialized vehicles like construction or farm equipment, and many charge sales or title taxes when a vehicle is transferred to a new owner.

Business law professor Edward A. Morse told WalletHub that personal property taxes can be “problematic” to implement due to the difficulties of verifying personal property ownership and the mobility of assets like vehicles.

Some states, like Rhode Island, have been phasing out their annual vehicle tax payments are replacing them with one-time taxes on transactions like car sales, which are easier to verify.

States with annual taxes on vehicles other than property taxes

The District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin are the 15 states which don’t technically charge personal property taxes on vehicles, but levy other taxes on vehicle ownership.

For example, Florida charges drivers an annual vehicle license tax based on the weight of their car or truck. Texas charges drivers an annual registration tax on their registered vehicles.

And some states levy annual fees on vehicle owners that are colloquially referred to as “property taxes,” even though they don’t technically qualify as property taxes because they aren’t based on the current value of the vehicle.

States with personal property tax on vehicles

The remaining 24 states charge annual property taxes on vehicle and other property ownership. They include Missouri and Kansas as well as Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Alaska is listed on WalletHub as charging no personal property taxes on vehicles — but that’s because the group based its calculations on actual taxes paid, not on what state law says.

“For vehicle property tax rates, we examined data for cities and counties making up at least 50 percent of a given state’s population and extrapolated this to the state level using weighted averages based on population size,” the report’s methodology reads.

Alaska provides an example of how this approach can skew results. The state authorizes local municipalities to levy personal property taxes on vehicles, but large municipalities like Anchorage choose not to. That makes Alaska’s “weighted average” appear as if no tax is paid, even when state law does allow for it.

Do you have more questions about personal property taxes in Missouri or Kansas? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.