Car-Tax Funds Come Home
Re “Squander It. Your Duty Is Clear,” Commentary, Feb. 22: The average vehicle license fee rebate is $135. I suspect all of that money and more is going to end up in our gas tanks as prices soar over $2 a gallon. It is amazing that there is no revolt over gas prices, but anger over vehicle license fees was enough to recall a governor. I hope some serious soul-searching goes on as my fellow voters sit in fuming, gridlocked cars listening to the radio station hosts who egged on this whole, expensive fiasco. What is the logic of recalling a governor and then turning around to support financial propositions from the new governor that are just remakes of our previous governor’s budget schemes?
I hope some sanity begins to reflect itself at the polls. I believe a defeat of Propositions 57 and 58 and support of Propositions 55 and 56 would send a message that voters want their state programs and also want the more wealthy among us to pay that extra percent or so in income tax that it takes to close the budget gap. Sufficient tax support of schools, roads and social services is critical and enriches all our lives. The linked Propositions 57 and 58 are debt instruments that will cost us billions in fees and interest. That, simply, is money that is lost to the state. It seems more fiscally prudent to pay as we go and adequately fund state programs by taxes, not debt. Propositions 55 and 56, yes. Propositions 57 and 58, no.
Mary Minick
Riverside
Just got a refund check from the state of California in the princely sum of $6.01. I am informed by the text printed on the stub that this is my automobile registration refund. Financial experts have been advising us for some time now that these itty-bitty refund checks cost taxpayers more in processing fees than the checks themselves are worth. That being the case, I thought I’d save myself some money and tear mine up, but then I realized that would mean the state accountants will have to spend time tracking down and writing off uncleared checks to balance the books, and so on. Dang, one way or another this is going to cost me a fortune.
Jeri A. Santangelo
Los Angeles
Oh boy! I just received my car tax refund. A whole $149. I guess I should thank Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for this great financial windfall, but since my UC tuition has gone up by $1,800 I’m not feeling very thankful.
Jessica Marshall
Laguna Niguel
A Feb. 19 article detailed the cutbacks in DMV employees and the long lines and maddening waits that have occurred as a result of these ill-thought-out decisions by our term-limited politicians and the bureaucrats who fashion policies and fees as a result of budget cuts. After reading about the tremendous number of people these overworked DMV employees had to serve on any given day, I decided to call for an appointment or to use the phone or Internet to conduct business, thereby removing one more person from the lines.
As fate would have it, I received my DMV renewal in the mail. I typed in www.dmv.ca.gov, as directed, put in my personal “renewal identification number” and entered the amount I owed the state. Then, I read the “small print.” No lines, no stamps, no waiting, but “there is a $4 convenience fee to renew your registration online.” I still feel empathy for the overworked employees of the DMV, but I, like many millions of my fellow Californians, are really tired of being “nickled-and-dimed” by every corporation and government entity that seems to think we are so stupid that we don’t realize when we are simply being “taxed” again.
Bob Thomas
Los Angeles
How arrogant to say that those of us who received car tax refund checks did not need them (letters, Feb. 21). We already pay enough taxes. Maybe if we weren’t forced to educate all the children of people who are in the country illegally we would have more to spend on new schools and their maintenance. I am sure that anyone wishing to give money in the form of donations to schools would be able to do so.
Robert Stellabott
Corona
This is to those who are challenging everyone to take their car tax refund and send it to their respective cities or counties. When the governor reduced the tripling of the car tax, I ended up saving about $115. I, in turn, used that money to pay my electric bill, gas bill and to purchase a small amount of groceries. I assume that someone must be more than well off financially if that money means little to them. It meant a great deal to me. That money helped me keep warm this winter and put some food on my table.
Shawn McTarsney
El Monte