Titling a vehicle in Montana via LLC

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Good prosecutorial strategy. Start with the low hanging fruit. Easy cases that will yield more names. Establish precedent and the following cases are easier. Then expand to individuals and do the same. This may take a couple of years to work through the slow judicial system. Usually you have to go to trial within a year in a criminal case and then appeals could take a year. Delay almost always works in favor of the defendant and these are rich people with good lawyers hoping the overworked government lawyers make a mistake.

It will be fun to watch it play out. I do agree state laws vary and that makes a difference in whether other states chase these cases. My guess is that the Montana LLC vehicle registration thing is a sham in almost all cases (the LLC exists for no other purpose than titling and registering a vehicle for an individual member LLC when that vehicle has never been to MT and is in another state) and is illegal in at least the majority of states. I am confident it would be in mine.

My guess is that probably no one is going to jail, but there will be fines, which the rich can afford. There will likely be hundreds of these cases and once a few go through the system, a lot more follow. Most states have reciprocity and can share vehicle/owner/registration issues they find that pertain to other states. I doubt all states will be actively looking. Probably just the bigger ones and the rest will wait for the case to be given to them by a big state. But I am just speculating based on what I would have done as a government lawyer for 25 years with prosecutorial experience.

Yet in the end, the owners who are trying to avoid paying taxes end up paying the same or more, just to the lawyers that they need to defend themselves for not paying the taxes in the first place...

[pbonsalb]

As with most crimes, most people get away with it. I used to have defendants tell me that all the time. How can you go after me when you are not going after this guy and this guy. I would ask for names and details and investigate but often the facts were different. Still, only some offenders are caught. Think of all the people cheating on their taxes. They get away with it unless they win the audit lottery and even that is usually triggered only by meeting all the factors in some algorithm.

[Vindicator3]

This one is a little different in that you are essentially advertising your noncompliance any time you take to the roadways. If it becomes a point of enforcement emphasis you are literally wearing a sign that says "I'm one of them."

That said, we had a huge problem around here of people driving around on expired temp tags and no enforcement despite also driving around advertising your noncompliance. When you bought a car, you'd get a temp tag good for something like 60 days and you'd have to pay your sales tax at the license office to get your real plates. At least in my part of the state there was no enforcement on the street so you'd see people driving around with 2-year old temp tags. Rather than burden LEO with additional enforcement, they just changed the law,and now you have to pay sales tax at the dealer or you don't get the car. Problem solved, at least for those getting in-state plates.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Vindicator3

This one is a little different in that you are essentially advertising your noncompliance any time you take to the roadways. If it becomes a point of enforcement emphasis you are literally wearing a sign that says "I'm one of them."

That said, we had a huge problem around here of people driving around on expired temp tags and no enforcement despite also driving around advertising your noncompliance. When you bought a car, you'd get a temp tag good for something like 60 days and you'd have to pay your sales tax at the license office to get your real plates. At least in my part of the state there was no enforcement on the street so you'd see people driving around with 2-year old temp tags. Rather than burden LEO with additional enforcement, they just changed the law, and now you have to pay sales tax at the dealer or you don't get the car. Problem solved, at least for those getting in-state plates.

The 1950's called, it wants it's Missouri tax laws back.