This isn't about the state getting more money out of you. This is about shutting down on the tax dodge. Pay your taxes. If you don't like your taxes, vote to have them changed, but don't complain that you can't cheat your way out of the taxes that everyone else is paying.

Have you just now discovered what a tax is? It's a means for residents to pay for the government of the state in which they live.

If someone doesn't like California's taxation (or government), they are free to move out of the state, but they can't have it both ways - they don't get to live in California but register assets outside the state to avoid the taxation.

Which seems like a reasonable way to go about it? If you’re in California and taking advantage of the benefits the state offers, you should be contributing towards it?

Yes, it is of course completely reasonable that California residents should be able to register their cars in Montana, where they don’t live. Why would the stat want to put a stop to things like that other than to squeeze their residents for more money?

Some of the residents appreciate a higher quality of living; for those that don't there's always Tuolemne or Shasta counties....

Uh, yes? Taxes are, in fact, about money. And tax evasion is about not paying your fair share.

Ah, the grifter's lament