Tom,
I wasn't aware of a $500 lease fee, but I must admit I was in a hurry on the day I was at the dealer filling out the paperwork so it may be there in the "fine print". I'll have to check over my paperwork again. Not sure on the tax rate here either. I think it's around the same as you. I just moved here from Michigan about a year ago. I do know that the smartbuy was 5.5% and the lease was 4.5%. I remember that at least, which was one reason I went with the lease. That was the reason for the slightly lower monthly payment I assume. Also I stated earlier that it was 3 years. My bad, it's 4. I put a lot down though so I almost prepaid the lease for the 4 years, then when it's up I'll switch to conventional financing, tax and all.