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Posted: 6/19/2003 11:02:32 PM EDT
This will raise my registration on a '97 minivan to over 400 bucks.

Fucking bastards.  Just another reason (in a long list) to get off my ass and get out of here.

[url]http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/6129505.htm[/url]

California on verge of tripling vehicle fee

By Ann E. Marimow
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - State officials are poised to announce today that the annual vehicle license fee will triple, an increase that will help stave off deep budget cuts to local governments.

Millions of California drivers will see their fee increase, on average, from $76 a year to $234, beginning in 90 days.

State finance officials would not confirm the planned announcement. But a source familiar with the discussions said the finance department believes that the state's fiscal conditions are now dire enough to trigger a provision that allows an increase to the 1998 level.

Republican lawmakers, who oppose any tax or fee increase to plug the state's $38.2 billion deficit, threatened Thursday to file an 11th-hour legal challenge to block it.

Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine, also unveiled a legal opinion from the Legislature's lawyer that calls into question whether the fee can be increased under the current conditions.

$4 billion boost

Gov. Gray Davis' budget blueprint relies on the license-fee increase to contribute $4 billion toward the state's shortfall.

``Increasing this tax may be convenient,'' said Campbell, the vice chairman of the Assembly budget committee who requested the opinion and is a part-owner of two Saab dealerships. ``But it's not right, it's not fair, and it's not legal.''

Louis Fernandez shook his head in disgust at a North San Jose gas station. ``I'm not OK with this,'' he said. ``If it were on a ballot, I would vote against it.''

Fernandez, who is newly unemployed, said he paid ``$100 and something'' to register his sun-baked 1985 Honda sedan. ``Times are already hard.''

But Wade Holden, who just this week affixed new California plates to his lipstick-red 1999 Toyota Celica, said he had no problem with the fee increase ``as long as they spend the money wisely.''

``You gotta do what you gotta do,'' he said.

Finance Director Steve Peace earlier this week defended the legality of an increase. He pointed out that the state had borrowed $11 billion to stay afloat through August and compared California's finances to a ``company that is on the brink.''

``We have never been in a place before where we are literally running 100 percent on other people's money,'' he said.

When the California economy was flush in the late 1990s, state officials lowered the vehicle license fee by two-thirds. At the time, they agreed that the fees would go back up when ``insufficient moneys were available'' to continue payments to local government.

But there has been an ongoing debate over the specific financial situation that would trigger a fee increase because of the law's vague definition of ``insufficient.''

Initial resistance

Initially, Davis opposed the fee increase and clashed with Democratic lawmakers who were pushing for it. The tax is highly unpopular. A recent poll showed that 58 percent of Californians oppose tripling the licensing fee.

The fee assesses vehicle owners 2 percent of a vehicle's purchase price the first year. It drops each year as the value of the vehicle declines.

In March, attorneys for the governor and Controller Steve Westly set the stage for the fee to be increased without requiring the Legislature to vote on it or Davis to sign it.

The legal opinion concluded Peace could raise the fee based on the state's cash flow and payment obligations.

But according to the new opinion from the Legislative counsel, the fee can be raised only when the state literally runs out of cash and can no longer make payments to local government. Even then, the opinion states, the state controller has the responsibility to reassess the state's cash flow each month and adjust the fee accordingly.

In addition to Campbell, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a political and legal watchdog group, said it would file a lawsuit soon after the trigger is pulled.
Link Posted: 6/19/2003 11:11:25 PM EDT
[#1]
I heard on the radio that the Republicans are definitely going to challenge this new tax because the governor is not authorize to increase on the current law.
Link Posted: 6/19/2003 11:25:09 PM EDT
[#2]
[b]A recent poll showed that 58 percent of Californians oppose tripling the licensing fee.[/b]

Which means approx. 42 percent actually APPROVE of tripling the fee.

I'm constantly amazed by the survival rate of those with barely enough brain power to draw breath. [rolleyes]

Regardless, let's hope this [i]eventually[/i] goes the way of the $300+ "importation penalty tax" for used vehicles brought in from out of state, the one the SC tossed out on its arse a few years back.

cynic
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 12:14:21 AM EDT
[#3]
This has been Yes - No - Yes - No for a while now.The Assembly is getting scared since it's getting a lot of press and the talk radio rabble rousers have been rousing the rabble about it.  In other words if they vote for it the people are gonna make them answer for their vote.  If it does get through it will be after the recall, Davis wouldn't dare sign it before.  some of the Repubs have the suit ready claiming it isn't constitutional.  Calling it a fee instead of a tax doesn't require the same percentage to pass, but it really fits the definition of a tax.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 6:54:10 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:
This has been Yes - No - Yes - No for a while now.The Assembly is getting scared since it's getting a lot of press and the talk radio rabble rousers have been rousing the rabble about it.  In other words if they vote for it the people are gonna make them answer for their vote.  If it does get through it will be after the recall, Davis wouldn't dare sign it before.  some of the Repubs have the suit ready claiming it isn't constitutional.  Calling it a fee instead of a tax doesn't require the same percentage to pass, but it really fits the definition of a tax.
View Quote

True, the Dems are definitely feeling the heat and running for political cover because of the effort to recall gov Gray(out) Davis [url]http://www.recallgraydavis.com/[/url]. The Dems dominance of Calif. state politics has caused a fiscal implosion and fiscal impending doom is starting to set in and unlike the Clinton Admin. there ain't going to be the shiny white knight from Wash. DC coming to the rescue. For you folks outside of Calif. stay tuned to see what happens next. Our next big crisis is going to be gasoline prices.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 7:06:31 AM EDT
[#5]
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 7:26:48 AM EDT
[#6]
A recent poll showed that 58 percent of Californians oppose tripling the licensing fee.

Which means approx. 42 percent actually APPROVE of tripling the fee.
View Quote

The 42% tells me that there are a lot of tweekers and 40oz malt liquor drinkers who don't care what happens.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 7:35:32 AM EDT
[#7]
Hahhahahhaa.

All those liberal soccer moms and their expenisve suv's adorned with west coast choppers stickers are gonna be pissed.They're getting what they deserve.Hahhahaha.

What the hell am I saying? I live here [}:(]

Oh well.I drive a 20 yr old clunker and my fees will still be cheap.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 8:42:06 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
Hahhahahhaa.

Oh well.I drive a 20 yr old clunker and my fees will still be cheap.
View Quote


Part of the reason they get away with the crap they do.....
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 9:05:57 AM EDT
[#9]
You ain't seen nutt'in yet!

Wait until you see the ripple effect of people not buying new vehicles due to the additional expense of this tax.  The pols will say that whatever was lost there, will be made up by the goods and services needed to keep older cars on the road.  The arbitrary loss of a couple of percentage points from sales has a sizeable ripple effect.

Look at what the 'luxury' tax did to the yachtbuilding industry in the northeast.  

Again, career bureaucrats see you as as source of funding, and a target of regluation.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 9:37:20 AM EDT
[#10]
Past the weather, why do people live there again?

[%|]
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 9:38:13 AM EDT
[#11]
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 10:00:01 AM EDT
[#12]
How can anybody question the Gray Davis recall??? I have 10 cars, when this crap started, I put all but one on "non-op" status before the costs rose. I now have one '72 vehicle registered and insured. F*** 'EM
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 10:12:58 AM EDT
[#13]
I don't know how you guys in Cali do it.  My hat's off to you as you are better men than I, I could never live in that state.

Link Posted: 6/20/2003 10:19:51 AM EDT
[#14]
Boggles the mind what Cali does to it's people...and they still stay.

Welcome to Taxifornia! [shock]

Big Bear...you could always come home to Florida.[:D]
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 11:35:05 AM EDT
[#15]
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 11:45:32 AM EDT
[#16]
BB,
i was thinkin about leaving VT for the west coast but probably not California. youre right about VT, the winters here are terrible. and it lasts 6-7 months.

guess theres a payoff just like everything else. summers and early fall are nice though.
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 12:45:02 PM EDT
[#17]
Gee, wasn't there something that happened about 226 years ago as a result of taxation without representation and confiscation of guns?

How much more are you kalidiots going to take?
Link Posted: 6/20/2003 12:50:48 PM EDT
[#18]
and still with all this crap the houses are really expensive and sell like crazy

300 grand gets you a 2 bedroom condo down in San Diego.
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