The Effect of Taxes and Insurance Costs On Automobile Registrations in the United States

Tim Pritchard and Larry DeBoer ()
Additional contact information
Tim Pritchard: Ohio State University

Public Finance Review, 1995, vol. 23, issue 3, 283-304

Abstract: We investigate the determinants of United States automobile registrations in states in 1986, focusing on state and local taxes and fees, and on auto insurance premiums. Using data on state tax and fee structures and the results of a phone survey of states where automobiles are subject to property taxes, we calculate tax and fee costs for a "new" and an "old" car. Regression results show that new car taxes have httle effect on registrations, probably because owners respond to higher taxes by buying older, cheaper cars. Higher old car taxes reduce registrations because low-income owners cannot buy older or cheaper cars and thereby abandon ownership. Insurance premiums appear to have a negative effect on registrations.

Date: 1995
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114219502300301 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:23:y:1995:i:3:p:283-304

DOI: 10.1177/109114219502300301

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Public Finance Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().