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558 N. Main St.,
Prineville, OR 97754
Phone: 541.447.6205 |
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| New DMV fee just plain dumb ... |
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 | | Editorial cartoon by Ron Raasch | | First the state gets ahead of the curve and offers encouragment for purchasing a gas-saving hybrid car ... then another department turns around and penalizes you for doing so ... |
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A stupid new Oregon DMV fee
A friend of mine, who happens to have one of the new hybrid gasoline/electric cars, brought an interesting bit of information to me the other day about Oregon's vehicle registration fees.
He showed me a letter he had received from the DMV that stated effective January 1, 2002, Oregon DMV will charge a new higher registration fee for hybrid-powered vehicles. The letter went on to explain that while it was true that these vehicles reduce emissions by using less fuel, they do "create wear on the highways." Therefore hybrid vehicles will be charged twice as much to register as conventional fuel-burning vehicles. The letter explained that the higher registration fee would be to make up for the loss of revenue from fuel taxes that are used for highway repair and maintenance.
I certainly am not an environmentalist, but I have a great respect for anyone that buys one of these efficient vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and the upcoming Honda Civic. The price for the technology is several thousand more than a comparable gasoline powered vehicle, but there are currently some state and federal tax incentives that balance out that higher initial price. The State of Oregon, in fact, was the first of about a dozen states to provide individual consumers with such a tax credit.
So on one hand government encourages the use of such a vehicle and on the other hand they say, "you're still wearing out the highways while driving your efficient new vehicle, but you're not spending enough on gas now, so we're going to double your registration fee to help make up the difference."
It's not that the extra $30 is going to make that much difference to the car owner, but it's the illogical method that the government uses to give, and then take away. Also the net effect for the government is so minuscule, at this time, it is not worth the effort.
I was not able to put my hands on exact sales figures for Oregon for last year, but nationwide there were only about 20,000 of the hybrids sold in the U.S. If we estimate that the sales were distributed evenly through the states, there would only be about 400 hybrid vehicles in Oregon, and I think that number would be high. Under that assumption, this new law will only produce about $12,000 in extra revenue. That should fix a lot of roads.
Actually this is an interesting plot by lawmakers to double all the registration fees. While the hybrid car is only a novelty now, we are going to see more and more of this type of vehicle on the road. Every automaker is, because of government pressure to create more fuel-efficient vehicles, working on new gasoline/electric hybrids like these or fuel cell cars or the use of other alternative fuels like hydrogen. They would all fall into the provisions of this legislation, which doubled the registration fees. It's just another sneaky way that the Oregon government is getting into our pockets.
Congratulations to the Crook County library and all you readers.
Based on federal government reports, the American population visited public libraries on average of 4.2 times per person in 1998. Connecticut had the highest state average of 6.2 visits per person. According to a study by the library volunteers last month, the average in Crook County is more than 8.3 visits per capita this year - nearly twice the national average. I guess we could say the same mystical voice from Kevin Costner's 1989 movie, Field of Dreams must have been talking to Crook County when he said, "If you build it, they will come."
I wonder if he was also talking about new facilities for the fairgrounds? |
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