Should Californians snitch on drivers who avoid the state’s motoring taxes by driving around on out-of-state plates? Yes! says the California Highway Patrol, who’ve established the Californians Help Eliminate All The Evasive Registration Scofflaws or CHEATERS program. The OC Register reports (in its own passively constructed sort of way) that it’s not about the money. Just kidding. It is. “Last year there were fees collected on 3,383 out-of-state license plate violations, which resulted in the collection of more than $1 million in fees, or an average of $297.58 per case, according to the CHP. Since the start of the program in 2004, $4 million has been collected in fees . . .
Residents are able to report out-of-state license plates at the CHP’s Web site, www.chp.ca.gov. The state and license plate number must be included, as well as the make, model and color of the vehicle, and the date, time and location where the vehicle was observed.
CHiPs doesn’t pay for the information, but they do appreciate the help with this large and growing problem. It is large and growing right? Well . . . “Currently, there are no exact estimates as to how many out-of-state car registrations are residents. “That is the reason why we have created this program,” [CHP Commander Fran] Clader said.
20 days after acquiring employment or residency
where i am it’s 3 months and i thought that was rough
Well, you have to pay tax/fees where you live. No one likes to pay in the first place…. but when some people circumvent the system then everyone else has to pay more. I think it is fair to enforce the tax/fees on everyone and not let people slip through. If we would let them get away, then only the honest people would have to pay, and that doesn’t sound fair to me.
The fee is based on the approximate value of the vehicle, so the only people who pay a lot are those with expensive vehicles, which is lower than it seems because it is mostly deductible from federal income taxes.
I paid $168 last year, but this lowered my income taxes by about $40. This 35 cents a day is pretty reasonable to register a luxury sedan in our beautiful state.
With the state in the process of cutting schools, libraries, state parks, universities, and so on, people should pay their taxes or if they find them too high just move.
Living in Sacramento I would always smurk when I saw a local bumper sticker like “my kid was student of the month at XYZ elementary” on a car with OR or ID plates.
Another element is the savings from lower insurance rates. It can be $2k/yr less to insure the same car in OR or NV versus urban CA. All of the bad driving, theft and fraud comes at a premium.
I’ve heard that people go register their cars in Nevada because its free compared to California.
Still, this isn’t particularly good PR for California.
Ha… CHEATERS. I have to give it to the CHP for going through the effort of fitting the acronym to something mostly comprehensible. As far as the program goes, I suppose they could take the money from this program. But we should also put a lot of effort into other channels — e.g. I know it’s controversial, but offer amnesty to illegal workers (emphasis on workers), and they’ll get more state income taxes.
In any case, I guess I have to pay CA reg fees, then so should my neighbor.
Another thing is, since these cars have insurance from out of state, if at all, what are you going to do if they hit you? Will an insurance company in Texas really pay for someone who was falsely claiming to live in Texas?
What are you going to do if they don’t?
Actually, the state only has claim to the citizens’ wealth up to a point. When the revenue from the fleeced doesn’t cover the SPENDING the state does, the state must control its’ spending. Something neither California nor the U.S. has been able to do. Even if Unca Sugar bails them out, Unca’s checks will eventually be no good. Unca has been charging his bills to his grandchildren since Hoover and FDR. Those grandchildren are US. Too bad he sent so many of our jobs to his friends overseas, because the bills are now marked PAST DUE.
California is just a mini-federal government. Only IT can’t PRINT MONEY. Too bad.
Oh, as far as the SNITCH program is concerned, what’s the phone number ? I’ll set my Wargames auto-dialer to redial and get right on it.
In my area, I’ve noticed that a large fraction of older cars are registered in Arizona and quite a few in Mexico. I’ll bet that most of those cars’ owners do that to avoid smog testing, not vehicle licensing fees. I’ve also noticed that a suspiciously large fraction of high-end luxury cars are driving around with “dealer” license plates. Those are the cars the CHP should be going after if this is about revenue.
California’s vehicle emissions code is flawed mess. I now know, from grim personal experience, that cars built after 1996 must not report any faults through their OBD II connector, even if the faults have nothing to do with tailpipe emissions. There is no limit to the costs that an owner must pay in order to correct this problem.
My 1997 Explorer reports an evaporative emissions fault through its OBD II. I’ve paid $600 to determine that the PCM is faulty. The retail price for PCM replacement for car of this age is $900.
Again, nothing wrong with the way the car runs, nothing wrong with its emissions. $1500 to comply with a faulty law – none of which goes to state coffers. Of course, I could have just changed registration to another state like so many others. What would you do?
Montana, among others, is notorious for tax avoidance schemes for cars. Set up a dummy corp, rent a mailbox and its off to the races. States that charge sales tax plus an annual personal property tax are especially vulnerable. When a state like California gets too greedy (relative most other states), avoidance looks attractive.
Happens with the rich and cars; happens with the poor and cigarettes. In my state, six people can save $210 in taxes on one carton each of ciggies, with a two hour drive to a neighboring state. High mileage car, six gallons of gas, do the math. You can have one carton per person from out of state and not get busted. And you can do it as often as you want – or the monkey on your back demands.
BTW, you can bet at least some of those lux-car driving Californians do have a Montana ranchette. Hey, here’s a swell idea. Use that GPS system, the one that Fed DoT doofus-in-chief LaHood likes so much, to apportion all the taxes and fees. Every state you drive in gets a shot at you….
The answer is to control spending, not implement stool pigeon programs. Almost all people will pay a reasonable tax for perceived valuable services. Problem is that in many instances, the taxes aren’t reasonable and the services are substandard.
@scary….
Hear…Hear…Ditto
I agree with your sentiments 110%. I’m from NJ and we’re nothing but California Lite when it comes to out of control Gubment spending and deficits
Way too many government workers at way too high salaries with way too many benefits and the refusal by the governor and legislature to make meaningful cuts means bankrupt states.
chuckR is right. Widespread tax evasion is a sign that a tax and/or the levying government are no longer seen as “legitimate.”
It should be noted that a person in the military might not have to register cars and get tags for the state in which they are stationed. That accounts for some apparent cases of failure to register cars.
scary and 63corvair– California is nothing like the federal government. California’s constitution lets voters put forward ballot initiatives, and this hampers the workings of the government. The voters want to freeze property taxes? A ballot initiative passes and property taxes get frozen. Voters want all sorts of things, and they don’t want to pay for them.
On the legislative side, there needs to be a super-majority to raise a tax, so again, that is nearly impossible. “Great,” my libertarian friends say, but it is not great when the voters have mandated some expensive initiative but have failed to fund it. That is why California has to pass all sorts of stupid fees. Fees can be done administratively, not through legislation.
This is why we need grown-ups running the show. I know, Obama is a fascist/socialist/whatever, but remember that our previous VP told us “. . . deficits don’t matter.” Across the board, we need leader who will tell us the truth and will treat us like adults, even though most of us do not want to be treated that way (remember how Carter was ridiculed when he spoke of “moral malaise” and suggested we alter our lifestyles?). God help the political leader who dares to tell us hard truths.
Oh, I only lived in California for a total of three months, two months tending bar in Tahoe and one in San Diego, but it was a beautiful state. I wish you guys nothing but luck.
63CorvairSpyder :
I agree with your sentiments 110%. I’m from NJ and we’re nothing but California Lite when it comes to out of control Gubment spending and deficits
Way too many government workers at way too high salaries with way too many benefits and the refusal by the governor and legislature to make meaningful cuts means bankrupt states.
Which is why I became a NJ expatriate 12 years ago (after 35 years as a resident).
ruckover wrote:
scary and 63corvair– California is nothing like the federal government. California’s constitution lets voters put forward ballot initiatives, and this hampers the workings of the government. The voters want to freeze property taxes? A ballot initiative passes and property taxes get frozen. Voters want all sorts of things, and they don’t want to pay for them.
CA property tax revenues have grown at an annual rate of 7.4% since 1980. That’s _way_ more than inflation + property taxes combined. In fact, it is faster that CA’s other sources of income have grown.
The whole idea that “property taxes have been frozen” is wrong.
It will cost me nearly $400 this year to license our 2 year old XC90, and will cost $170 for my 11 year old BMW.
The license fees here in CA were just increased by 77% in May of this year to account for the budget problems.
It wonder if it ever occured to the bleeding hearts in Excramento that this is a tax increase that hammers away at the poorest people in the state.
Fortunately, we can afford this increase, but many people can’t. I know it’s a tough time in the state, but the Democrats who are running the show and the Republicans who have no backbone need to realize that increasing taxes in a recession is a sure fire way to make the recession last longer and deeper. They say they’re cutting programs as well, but c’mon.
This state has made a habit out of living beyond its means. Spending has increased 92% over the last 10 years and 32% since Ahnold got elected.
http://reason.org/news/show/1003244.html
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=40977
Even knowing this, no one has acknowledged the obvious: CA spends like a crack whore and has shown quasi-crack whorish fiscal restraint.
marshall, as I understand it, once a home is purchased, the tax rate stays the same for that property until it is sold again. This forces new buyers to pay higher amounts. Two homes of equal value on the same block might well have two wildly different tax levies on them. I do not see this as a rational method of funding government.
“I do not see this as a rational method of funding government.” It started as a method to keep old couples from being taxed out of their houses if they wanted to keep living in them.
The state of Washington used to really push the “turn in your neighbor for out-of-state plates” thing too, especially when it was charging a rip-off excise tax based on the state’s determined vehicle value which was always more than you could hope to sell the car for. And we’re next door to Oregon which charges a straight weight fee only. There are a lot of difficulties with that though; for instance we have several large navy bases, a big air force base, and one of the biggest army forts here, so you see a lot of out-of-state plates that are legitimately used on service people’s cars. It can be kind of comical actually, the driveway with a Florida car, a Virginia car, and a Washington car…the last three duty stations. Or an apartment house near a base, you can see plates from a dozen states in the lot.
In general, the ability and willingness of people and employers to move to another state when the present one gets money-hungry enough to torpedo the business climate serves to some extent as a check on states’ taxing schemes. The only problem there is that we now have the federal government trying to bring us all down to the New York/California/Chicago level.
Ever visit Manhattan ?
You will note a lot of CT, VT and NH plates parked day after day on the same residential streets.
Many of the NY reg cars are actually registered upstate or on Long Island at the “summer house”.
I’m very sure that the ‘Congestion pricing’ scam Bloomberg will push again in his bought and paid for third term will include figuring out which cars spend which days inside the cordon….and sending out bills.
“Stop Snitching” was a stupid and not-well thought out campaign, but at least it could be justified by the brutal and unfair practices of urban police departments. Police urging you to “start snitching” is great way to cause violence between neighbors and to reduce trust in the community. The only upside? Revenue generation. I think the “start snitching” campaign has less going for it ultimately.