Sailboat Values in the Mind of the Tax Assessor

[Roger Janeway]

You may be interested to learn that there is an alternate reality in which our boats’ market values increase over time: the state’s tax rolls.

This year, the Los Angeles County Assessor claims my 35-year-old sailboat increased in value by 21% since 2021. The Assessor says this is based on information from California’s statewide Board of Equalization, which claims:

Current data indicates that the average retail sale prices for powerboats, sailboats, and personal watercraft (jet skis) have all experienced a large appreciation in value as compared to last year. This may be largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the popularity of outdoor boating activities has increased substantially and a decrease in production has caused the demand for vessels to exceed the supply.

https://boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/pdf/lta22003.pdf

The consolation to sailors is that our boats allegedly went up only 21%, while power boat values increased 24% and Jet Skis 25%, according to California’s BOE.

I appreciate the absence of political ranting from this forum so am not posting this as a complaint about taxes, just as an observation about our boats’ alleged monetary values. At a 1.16% property tax rate ultimately based on a 2018 bill of sale, these imaginary increases in value are not worth fighting over.

 

[Loren Beach]

We do not have such a tax in our state, altho we do pay a hefty property tax and also an income tax.
I sorta kinda see how they might have come up with this. Maybe. If you look at the hot market the last couple seasons for late model boats, sail and power, they might be accessing the "sold boat' db, and looked at in increase in average price. I would bet that prices for boats over about 20 years, on the average have either held steady or continued their historic/slow decline.

That said, I had one interaction with the county tax office in Oakland CA. When we bought our used boat in 1994, the yearly tax had recently been paid by the seller and I inquired if there would be a partial refund for the bulk of the remaining year that the boat would be in Oregon with the new owners.
Polite but Firm... "no".....

 

[Sean Engle]

Washington State has such a tax (or at least they did, as I don't own currently). I always found the changes in value of such items to be rather arbitrary - and just another way to get in some revenue.

 

[Alan Gomes]

You may be interested to learn that there is an alternate reality in which our boats’ market values increase over time: the state’s tax rolls.

This year, the Los Angeles County Assessor claims my 35-year-old sailboat increased in value by 21% since 2021. The Assessor says this is based on information from California’s statewide Board of Equalization, which claims:

Current data indicates that the average retail sale prices for powerboats, sailboats, and personal watercraft (jet skis) have all experienced a large appreciation in value as compared to last year. This may be largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the popularity of outdoor boating activities has increased substantially and a decrease in production has caused the demand for vessels to exceed the supply.

https://boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/pdf/lta22003.pdf

The consolation to sailors is that our boats allegedly went up only 21%, while power boat values increased 24% and Jet Skis 25%, according to California’s BOE.

I appreciate the absence of political ranting from this forum so am not posting this as a complaint about taxes, just as an observation about our boats’ alleged monetary values. At a 1.16% property tax rate ultimately based on a 2018 bill of sale, these imaginary increases in value are not worth fighting over.

If you don't mind my asking, Roger, what value did they assign to your boat? Curious because I'm just down the freeway from you with the identical boat!

 

[Roger Janeway]

Alan, the assessment is not based on an actual appraisal of the boat, but on the original sales price, adjusted every year based on Board of Equalization data on boat sales. I gather from things you said awhile back that I may have paid more for my E26-2 than anyone in history except the original purchasers: $16,750 in 2018. So my assessed value is probably higher than yours because of my naivete and profligacy. (Never having bought a boat before, the price seemed good compared to a used car.) My assessed value is a function of that original purchase price. Presumably like yours and everyone else's in California, it went up 5% in 2019, down 4% in 2020, up 4% in 2021, and now up 21% in 2022. If someone else had bought "the same boat" in 2018 for $6K, their current assessed value would be $7,630.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Alan, the assessment is not based on an actual appraisal of the boat, but on the original sales price, adjusted every year based on Board of Equalization data on boat sales. I gather from things you said awhile back that I may have paid more for my E26-2 than anyone in history except the original purchasers: $16,750 in 2018. So my assessed value is probably higher than yours because of my naivete and profligacy. (Never having bought a boat before, the price seemed good compared to a used car.) My assessed value is a function of that original purchase price. Presumably like yours and everyone else's in California, it went up 5% in 2019, down 4% in 2020, up 4% in 2021, and now up 21% in 2022. If someone else had bought "the same boat" in 2018 for $6K, their current assessed value would be $7,630.

Thanks, Roger.