Because the federal income tax is the biggest and usually the first tax we see listed on our pay stubs, we naturally tend to focus on it.

But state government takes a bite out of our spending money, too. Bankrate will help you stay on top of what your localities are collecting -- income, sales, personal property or investment taxes, or often a combination of all.

Here's a look at some recent tax actions across the nation.

More Minnesota car owners get tax break
ST. PAUL -- A reduction in Minnesota's vehicle registration tax that kicked in July 1 didn't do much good for car owners whose tags expired earlier in the year.

But thanks to a quirk in the state's grace period for these payments, approximately 140,000 residents whose auto registrations were due in June will now get that tax break, too.

State tax and highway officials decided to apply the lower rate renewals to June registrations after receiving "many calls." A class action lawsuit also contributed to the decision.

New vehicles in Minnesota are taxed at 1.25 percent of their value. Previously, that rate was applied for 10 years, with the tax reducing as the vehicle depreciated. By a vehicle's 11^th year, the tax became a flat $35.

The revised vehicle tax maintains the original 1.25 percent-of-value rate, but caps the first renewal at $189. In subsequent years car owners will pay only $99 to renew tags. By the 11^th year the tax will drop to $35.

Some Minnesotans argued that the July 1 effective date of the lower tag tax was unclear. Tags are renewed each year in the anniversary month of the vehicle's purchase, but with the state's 10-day grace period, a June tag holder can wait until July 10 to pay the tax.

June registrants flooded tax officials with calls -- given the grace period, could they wait until July and pay the lower fee? A class action suit soon followed.

State officials say the legislature intended the reduced rates to take effect with registration taxes due after July 1, but conceded the law's language was unclear on June renewals. State attorneys said the grace-period ambiguity made it unclear whether the state could win in court, so state officials decided to return the money to June taxpayers.

The refund is expected to cost the state $13.3 million in vehicle registration taxes. Minnesota revenue officials say the average refund will be $95, with the smallest check about $2 and the largest expected to be several hundred dollars.

North Carolina county accepting local taxes online
LEXINGTON -- Davidson County executives estimate that residents of this North Carolina community spend million of hours waiting in lines to conduct official business.

But residents now can eliminate some of that standing around when it comes to paying property and vehicle taxes. Davidson County has become the first county in North Carolina to accept these tax payments electronically.

Taxpayers can visit the county's tax department Web site and click the appropriate tax-paying icon. Users then plug in the information from their tax bill -- along with a bank check card, credit card or checking account number -- and wait for confirmation that the transaction succeeded. The process is administered by the private firm ezgov.com, which collects a $3 to $4 service fee for each transaction, with the taxpayer footing the bill. Then there's always the chance that some credit cards will tack on an additional fee.

County officials hope these fees won't discourage residents, and that e-tax payments will increase, especially near year end. Property taxes, although due Sept. 1, can be paid without penalty until Dec. 31. Davidson County Tax Administrator Joe Silver says there are so many last-minute taxpayers that around the holidays his office is as busy as a mall. He hopes the electronic system changes that crush this year.

Local executives say that the year-end backlog was only part of the reason for the e-tax move.

The west-central North Carolina county collects taxes on about 144,000 vehicles and 77,000 plots of land each year. When those taxes are paid by check, either through the mail or in person, the county loses interest because it takes several days to process the paper payments. Online payments show up in county coffers the next day.

Ezgov.com estimated it costs the county a little more than $5 to process regular payments (including lost interest) and about 22 cents to process an online payment.

Silver notes the county paid nothing to set up the tax site and will not pay ezgov.com to manage it.