A few weeks ago our family decided it was time to purchase another vehicle. As our son had recently received his learner’s permit and would soon be seeking his license, another vehicle seemed to make sense.

After some discussion and shopping for a vehicle, we decided to purchase a used one, as we thought this might save us some money. Were we wrong.

I went to our town office to register the vehicle and much to my surprise I was informed that though the vehicle was used with 15,000 miles of prior use, we would be taxed the same as if it were new and never registered or titled, all of this because it is a 2006 model and it is the year 2006.

If that wasn’t bad enough we could also be taxed on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the vehicle and not the actual purchase price.

The difference of the two prices was in excess of $10,000 and with a mill rate of some $24 per $1,000 of valuation means $240 in taxes on money we never spent. This is on a used vehicle that certainly is not worth the MSRP as none of the cars that we looked at were priced even close to this figure.

It’s no wonder large corporations are leaving the state to do business elsewhere or that small towns are accused of improprieties as I am sure this would not make sense to anybody.

We need to change our license plates to read: “Welcome to Maine: The Land of Overtaxed and Unemployed,” instead of “Vacationland.”

Frank E. Welch

Dixmont