Get DMV Scofflaws With a Bounty Program : Lost revenue: People who fail to pay vehicle fees cost us millions. Let’s reward turn-ins.
With governments closing medical facilities and libraries to save money, you’d think that this would be a lousy time to be an obvious tax cheat.
But every day I see Californians advertise that they’re avoiding a tax. It’s the vehicle license fee, the largest single portion of our yearly car registration. When you spot California plates sporting expired tabs, or a resident using out-of-state plates, you’re looking at someone dodging the VLF.
The VLF is essentially a personal property tax, calculated at 2% of a percentage (which decreases yearly) of the vehicle’s original purchase price. The Department of Motor Vehicles returns VLFs to cities and counties. This represents a serious piece of change. The DMV collected $2.9 billion in VLFs during fiscal 1992-93; Los Angeles County’s cut was $656 million, while the city of Los Angeles got $125.7 million.
How many vehicular deadbeats are there? The number of expired tabs at any given time--9 million, about 33% of the state’s 25.38 million registered vehicles--is somewhat misleading, for some vehicles are in dealer inventory, have been sold but not reregistered, are junkers or have been moved out of state.
The number of willful non-payers extends far beyond the impoverished. I see plenty of VLF dodgers driving nice cars in affluent neighborhoods. Their reason is simple--a car costing $15,000 runs up $1,200 in VLF during its first five years. If that car was registered in Oregon (a favored haven), the five-year total would be just $75. Tax avoiders with California plates often steal current tabs off other cars.
Southern California’s share of the outstanding VLF revenue just from expired California plates appears to be in the tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. Why not help our cash-poor local governments speed collections by starting a bounty program? Turn in a VLF scofflaw and get a reward--say, 10% of the fee and fines.
I’m ready. I’ve got a neighbor who for years has been driving a Chrysler with personalized New York plates; a friend in Eagle Rock sees a Jeep in the same situation.
With a bounty incentive, we could cut the lost revenues and maybe manage to help keep our health clinics and libraries open. Good Samaritans, of course, could contribute their bounty to the same cause.
