Highway Robbery in New York State

New York State finds another way to hurt its taxpayers:

Beginning in April, car and tractor-trailer owners alike will have to shell out $25 for spruced-up license plates, by dictate of state leaders coming up with new ways to wring out revenue as an unprecedented budget shortfall looms.

The new plates, featuring a bold new gold hue and a highly reflective surface, will make the roads safer and “reflect New York’s force and its resilience,” according to the state’s commissioner of motor vehicles.

They will also generate $260 million in revenue and create more than 100 jobs — at the maximum security prison where inmates make the plates for up to 42 cents an hour.

Despite such benefits, some New Yorkers say the mandatory fee is an unfair tax on drivers already facing tough times. And, they wonder, what exactly is wrong with the plates right now?

“You really don’t need reflective material on your license plate with all the new cars — they’ve got plenty of reflectors and running lights on the side,” said George J. Williams, one of several upstate county clerks who are organizing petitions against the fee. “It’s really a burden. We need to take a stand for the people.”

Drivers in New York have been besieged this year by a potpourri of fees. A $50 surcharge has been tacked onto registration renewals, and a driver’s license renewal costs an additional $16. Car rentals now include a 5 percent tax as well.

The new $25 license plate fee, which will be phased in as drivers begin renewing their two-year vehicle registrations in April, is up from $5.50 in 2001, the last time the state went through a full plate replacement program. Other states, like California, have never charged a fee for mandatory plates.

Drivers who wish to keep the same combination of letters and numbers must pay an additional $20 (holders of vanity plates, who already pay an annual cost, are exempted). That fee is a holdover from 2001, when the state switched from a six-figure plate to a seven-figure plate; drivers paid the additional cost to maintain their six-digit number.