CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – As some have tried to rid the Commonwealth of the so-called “car tax” since Gov. Jim Gilmore’s administration at the turn of the millennium, a new WalletHub survey finds Virginia with highest vehicle property taxes in the nation.
“Virginia is dead last when it comes to vehicle property taxes,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, “with an effective tax rate of almost 4% at 3.97 and annual tax of about $1150.”
Lupo said the company uses the value of a Toyota Camry LE 4-door sedan, “which is the hottest selling car of 2025,” he said.
He said this, of course, is a snapshot but, “Virginia has a very high tax burden when it comes to vehicle property taxes.”
Lupo said not all states have this tax with about a 50-50 split between states who do and states who don’t.
Virginia is 51st among the states and the District of Columbia, well behind 50th-ranked Mississippi with a 3.42% rate and $996 burden in a year.
Those are the only states over 3% with Missouri ranked 49 at 2.55% and $743.
Lupo notes Virginia as a Dillon Rule state has limited options when it comes to local tax options, and property taxes on vehicles is one of the allowed revenue sources that has been difficult to eliminate in the nearly 30 years of such efforts.
When it comes to real estate taxes, Virginia is in the middle of the pack ranking 21st in the nation.
The survey finds the average effective real estate tax rate is 0.73% with annual taxes on a home valued at $332,700 at $2419.
WalletHub finds Virginia’s median home value at $383,700 for an annual tax of $2790.
The real estate tax is the major driver for local tax revenues in every locality in the state.
Lupo said these tax burdens do indeed affect whether some people will move to those states.
“If you’re living in a state where there’s no vehicle property taxes, it will spare you the sticker shock of having to pay a tax if you do your homework beforehand,” Lupo said.
He said the taxes even differ within a state from county-to-county as he talked about where he lives in a county just outside Columbia, SC, “Across two-and-a-half miles from the county line we live, our taxes are cut in half compared to the sky-high taxes the next county over.”
That phenomenon is seen in central Virginia where the real estate tax burden is lower for those living in Louisa, Greene, or Fluvanna counties compared to Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville.
