An extra five bucks for visiting the DMV? You gotta be kidding
Date published: 3/7/2008
NEARLY HALF of the adults in Virginia have trouble reading. Could that be why at least 35 percent of us prefer to go to a DMV Service Center to renew our car registrations?
Maybe we're old. Maybe we have difficulty understanding forms. Maybe English is a second language. Maybe we are comforted by a human presence in a call-waiting and type-your-password society that somewhere along the way made everyone's convenience but ours supreme. Should we be charged an extra five bucks for wanting personal help renewing our tags?
That's just what the General Assembly has decided, passing a bill by Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, that assesses a $5 surcharge on anyone who shows up at a DMV Service Center to renew his registration instead of doing it by phone or mail or over the Internet. Call it one more step in the dehumanization of your state government.
Notably, Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, was one of only eight House members to vote against it. Mr. Cole says he'd rather see a discount for motorists who renew online than a surcharge on those who don't.
Indeed, there's nothing wrong with encouraging Virginians to use other means to get their tags. More than half of us have already opted for the Internet. Of the 35 percent who go to a DMV office, some, no doubt, are procrastinators in a hurry to stay legal. But some are people who just need human assistance to get the job done. Many are poor, elderly, or foreign-born--often the very Virginians least able to absorb another $5 state fee. Call them the voiceless downtrodden. They're easy pickings for the General Assembly, and all too often they bear the brunt of misguided "efficiencies."
The ire over civil remedial fees seems to have taught most lawmakers nothing, but maybe the executive branch is brighter. Gov. Kaine should veto this bill and restore equity to DMV walk-ins--taxpayers who deserve equal treatment from the state workers whose salaries they pay.
Ranko -(posted by
MisterBee
, Mar. 8, 2008 9:05 am)
Since you are so excited about paying more of YOUR money to the state so politicians can buy their seats, why dont you kick in an extra five for me? Far as I'm concerned, I'm already paying too much to the state.
The last time(posted by
MisterBee
, Mar. 8, 2008 9:04 am)
The last time I had my driver's license renewed require that I SHOW UP at the DMV for an eye exam. I have no problem with that, but does that mean this twit of a politician wants to charge me for something the state mandates? Who votes for these clowns like McDougal anyway? And he's a Republican? A RINO is more like it. You go Mark Cole.
Alternative...(posted by
spotsylvania
, Mar. 7, 2008 10:42 am)
Perhaps they should raise the fee for all registrations, then grant the $5 discount for on-line renewals. That should make it more palitable for those who don't grasp the connection between revenue and costs.
ARE YOU CRAZY!(posted by
buffcajun
, Mar. 7, 2008 7:06 am)
My best friend was at the DMV for four hours yesterday to get her license renewed! They should have paid her! And by the way, she doesn't have internet access.
