As a possible new resident, please educate me on taxes - specifically; personal vehicle, boats/motor/trailer. Are the fees reasonable or are they exhorbitent?

I became a resident of Madison county in March.  I was unpleasantly surprised at the registration fees for my car and RV.

It varies by city and county. I moved within Alabama about 16 months ago, and my vehicle tags went up 66%, and my property tax tripled. Local sales tax is also higher, but we get good city services in return.

My property taxes are less than 1/2 of what they were in Ga. Sales tax is 1.5% higher . Cars were not to bad because they all had taxes paid in Ga. The boat registration was not bad and renewal is cheap.

Around my house, it's a sore subject.  As was said, it varies widely from city to city and county to county.  The closer to a major city, the higher they go.  All told and best I can figure out, my tax burden was a far less living in Florida compared to Alabama.  

The property taxes on vehicles are all over the place depending on your vehicle and where you live.  The state determines the value of your car based on year/make/model/trim and then feeds that in to the vehicle property tax rates you pay for state/county/city.  I went from registering my 2004 Crown Victoria for fairly cheap to over $300/year when I got a new Ford Ranger.  If I weren't in city limits, I would be less than half that.  I'm not familiar on the registration/taxes on trailers, but I figure I'll be getting there this year as I'm getting an old utility trailer from my folks.

One thing you didn't mention outright but that I would be cognizant of is property tax rates on homes.  The biggest thing there being that Florida has the "Save Our Homes" amendment that was passed a long time ago that puts a limit on how much property taxes can go up every year whereas Alabama does not have such a law. When we moved to Madison City (Limestone County), the previous owners of our house had annexed into the city a couple years prior but it was still reasonable compared to what I was paying on my house in Orlando.  Looking up the history, the tax bill doubled across the board (Vehicle and House) when the annexed into the city from county. With the rise in property values due to all the contractors/government agencies and other businesses setting up shop here and the votes to increase millage rates for the city school district, my (house) property taxes have gone up 75% in 9 years and I'm expecting another 10-20% bump over last year when I get my assessment in July.

We considered moving to TN before AL because TN doesn't have income tax.

TN property tax is more than AL, but with no income tax they offset.

My property tax has gone up quite a lot since we bought in 2016, but it's still under $500 a year.

Sales tax is basically 9%.

They love taxing your new vehicle, but my old 2008 truck is fairly cheap to register, but it's still more expensive to register a vehicle in AL compared to TX with it's flat $75 per year.

If you live in TN but work in AL, guess who gets their income tax?  

When i relocated to Kansas for work a while back, I had to register my pick-up. Tags cost a paltry $982.00 for ONE year!!!  The clerk said don't worry, it will be less next year --------$950. What a relief...

I remember going on a business trip to Mississippi in 2005.  Listening to the local station, the DJ was estatic about tag prices going down.  He would now pay $500 a year for his tag

My property tax is $648 on a 2200 square foot house in the city limits.  Vehicle tags are all over the board.  My son pays @$26 and some change for a 2008 Honda Ridgeline (@$24 for the tag, $2.48 in tax).  I pay $138 (@$24 for the tag, and the rest is tax) on a 2018 Dodge Journey.