While boat and snowmobile owners could see simplified tax laws for their toys next year, motor home and houseboat users are still hoping for a proposal to slash their registration fees.

Owners of "personal property," which includes recreational vehicles, watercraft and trailers, would pay a set registration fee based on the property's age, with the fee adjusting with every three years of age, under a bill endorsed by the Utah Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee Wednesday. The bill will be forwarded to the full Legislature for consideration during the 2005 general session.

Salt Lake County Assessor Lee Gardner, who helped draft the bill, said that most owners would see little change in the fees they pay because legislators wanted a "revenue neutral" bill which would neither increase or decrease what the state collects from the property owners. The only significant change will be for owners of 15- to 18-foot boats, which will see an increase of up to 35 percent on the current registration fee to account for potential revenue lost from the removal of a requirement to register outboard motors.

Gardner said the bill will allow property owners to better plan for their fees, just as they currently do for their vehicles, he said.

"This is designed to make it easier for taxpayers, most of which will see a decrease in their taxes."

Legislators continued to grapple, however, with how to make the taxes on motor homes more competitive with other states. Under Utah law, motor homes are taxed like houses, often sticking RV owners with tax bills of more than $2,000. Often times, RV owners will risk fines and register in a state that only charges a flat fee of a couple of hundred of dollars.

"I never contemplated having to pay $200 a month in taxes for my motor home," RV owner Darwin Tobler told the committee. "That is not part of my retirement budget."

Tobler estimated he lived in his motor home at least half of the year, much of that out-of-state. Unless the law is changed, he will probably have to register in another state, either with family or through an RV association.

Rep. Lou Shurtliff, D-Ogden, said that she will probably propose a bill that would allow RV owners to register their motor homes based on age, instead of value, which would significantly lower the fees, although it could also result in a tax shift to lower-valued motor homes and other property owners. Other options include using a length-based system or lowering the tax rate on motor homes.

Regardless, she said something needs to be done, because not only does the state lose the tax revenue if RV owners register in other states, they often lose the sales tax revenue because people will purchase the RVs in a state like Montana, which has a low registration fee and does not have a state sales tax.

The committee may also recommend similar changes for houseboats, although fewer residents would register their houseboats in another state because they typically stay in Utah if they are docked in Utah, Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said. Cutting the taxes on houseboats may also lead to similar requests from cabin owners, legislators feared.

"I suspect houseboats are much more like second homes, because they are not as mobile," Bramble said. "There are only finite places to take your houseboat, and once it's there, it will probably stay there."

---

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com