Cities and towns dream up some of the dumbest things in order to acquire revenue. One of them is the annual renewal of license plates on our vehicles. We have already paid taxes on our vehicle when we purchased it; yet every year we must pay more money in order to have an updated license plate. Failure to comply on time results in a fine on top of the annual fee. When I moved to Arkansas last year, I had to take my truck to a special assessor’s office in order to have its value accessed, as my personal property. I then had to pay taxes on their assessment. I also had to relinquish my title to them so that they could reissue it as an Arkansas title. I had to do the same thing when I moved from Colorado to Wyoming. My license plate is about to expire, so before I can renew it in Wyoming, I have to have the VIN number verified by a police officer. I have owned my truck for more than 7 years, but still I must prove to the state of Wyoming that it is my truck. Since I had not remembered this requirement, I wasted a trip going to the courthouse and I will have to return after I have the VIN proof. I will be required to pay more taxes on my 23 year old truck and then I will have to wait several weeks for them to reissue my title. The DMV allows you to pay these fees with a check, which is amusing, since most establishments these days do not accept checks. If you choose to pay with a debit or credit card, they charge you an extra $3! If the hassle of renewing the license plates on our vehicles every year is not enough to aggravate us, the sour expressions and unfriendly service of the people who work in motor vehicle offices will do nothing to improve our day.
The regular renewal of drivers licenses is another pointless waste of time. Every state varies, but most require that you renew your driver’s license every 3 to 5 years, before your birthday. Unless you have had a moving violation, the only purpose for this inconvenience is to acquire more money for the county or town that you live in. Surely there are easier ways for a city to make its revenue. Once you have purchased a vehicle and paid taxes on it, you should not have to worry about it until you sell that one and buy a new vehicle. If you have a driver’s license, it should be good for life, unless you have it revoked for moving violations. We should not have to have a different driver’s license for the state we are living in. One driver’s license should suffice no matter where we go in our own country. It is no wonder that few people have a sense of belonging in the places where they live, when everyone is treated as guilty before proven innocent. Our local governments require us to pay for our peace of mind. In my opinion, that is just plain dumb.
