The gift that keeps on giving
The Pontiac is now road worthy. I got up at 6:45am and called around to see if any auto parts stores had a coolant tank in stock. Schuck's had it. I bought the tank, took it home and installed it. With the new tank the cooling system held pressure to spec and ran at a perfect 195°F. Danna went out for a pair of used tires to put on the car to get us through for a while. Washington Used Tire had two tires that fit. They also discovered that one of the wheels was cracked and needs to be replaced. I hate aluminum wheels. Aluminum is not a hard enough metal for wheels. They crack and chip and have all kinds of problems. Since the Pontiac is a performance model it has aluminum sport wheels. Now it has a steel wheel on the right rear with a no-name generic used tire on it. I know the rest of the world loves the look of aluminum wheels but I just can't stand them. They are not durable. The tire shop kindly gave Danna enough lug nuts to make up for the ones that were missing from the car.
The Pontiac went to the emissions testing station next. Emissions testing is a scam perpetrated by the state of Washington to make money for the company that runs the test. Cars less than five years old are exempt; cars more than twenty-five years old are exempt; everything else gets tested. The old vehicles are generally so old that the repairs are worth more than the vehicle and, therefore, are eligible for a waiver after $150 is spent on diagnosis. The vast majority of vehicles in between those dates pass; the rest are waiver-eligible after the $150 is spent. Moral: if you spend more money, you can pretty much get what you want with a waiver.
Everything on the Pontiac passed except the gas cap. Danna had to buy a new gas cap for the car to pass emissions. Once again, the state steps in to use its power over us to force us to spend money. The old gas cap was probably just fine but I had to spend $15 so the state could force me to buy a $10 gas cap. This is why people vote for Tim Eyman initiatives. It's one of the few times we get to strike back at the nearly endless power of the state over our lives.
After playing my gigs today I met Danna at the licensing office. I waited in line with the signed title and the emissions test results. When I got to the licensing clerk he told me that even though I paid $1050 for the car I was going to be taxed on $1800 because that's what the state feels fair market value is for the car. How the hell is that fair? It's bad enough that we have to pay a sales tax of nearly 10% on most everything we buy. Now the state has decided that we should pay taxes on money we didn't even spend? That's insane. If a person were hallucinating and seeing an imaginary price on a car they would be given mental health treatment. If the state does it, that's fine. Now I have to go back to the seller and get him to fill out a form detailing the reason why he sold me the car at a low price. I believe that I shouldn't have to do a damn thing. The state shouldn't be that intrusive. I'm legally required to report the sales price to the state under penalty of perjury. If that's the standard why do I have to fill out another form? Why is it any of the state's business why I got the car for $1050? First I had to fix the engine so that the car would pass emissions to get it licensed. Now I have to prove that it was running poorly to justify the low price that I actually paid. This is insane.
Tomorrow I have to go down to Puyallup and get Form #2 signed by the seller and then return to the licensing office on Monday to license the car for the actual price that I actually paid.
The Pontiac went to the emissions testing station next. Emissions testing is a scam perpetrated by the state of Washington to make money for the company that runs the test. Cars less than five years old are exempt; cars more than twenty-five years old are exempt; everything else gets tested. The old vehicles are generally so old that the repairs are worth more than the vehicle and, therefore, are eligible for a waiver after $150 is spent on diagnosis. The vast majority of vehicles in between those dates pass; the rest are waiver-eligible after the $150 is spent. Moral: if you spend more money, you can pretty much get what you want with a waiver.
Everything on the Pontiac passed except the gas cap. Danna had to buy a new gas cap for the car to pass emissions. Once again, the state steps in to use its power over us to force us to spend money. The old gas cap was probably just fine but I had to spend $15 so the state could force me to buy a $10 gas cap. This is why people vote for Tim Eyman initiatives. It's one of the few times we get to strike back at the nearly endless power of the state over our lives.
After playing my gigs today I met Danna at the licensing office. I waited in line with the signed title and the emissions test results. When I got to the licensing clerk he told me that even though I paid $1050 for the car I was going to be taxed on $1800 because that's what the state feels fair market value is for the car. How the hell is that fair? It's bad enough that we have to pay a sales tax of nearly 10% on most everything we buy. Now the state has decided that we should pay taxes on money we didn't even spend? That's insane. If a person were hallucinating and seeing an imaginary price on a car they would be given mental health treatment. If the state does it, that's fine. Now I have to go back to the seller and get him to fill out a form detailing the reason why he sold me the car at a low price. I believe that I shouldn't have to do a damn thing. The state shouldn't be that intrusive. I'm legally required to report the sales price to the state under penalty of perjury. If that's the standard why do I have to fill out another form? Why is it any of the state's business why I got the car for $1050? First I had to fix the engine so that the car would pass emissions to get it licensed. Now I have to prove that it was running poorly to justify the low price that I actually paid. This is insane.
Tomorrow I have to go down to Puyallup and get Form #2 signed by the seller and then return to the licensing office on Monday to license the car for the actual price that I actually paid.