So I get this email the other day. It's from the MVD...
I thought, well, wonder what this is about. Here's what it said...
"Beginning Dec. 1, Arizona motorists expecting vehicle registration renewals will see a new Public Safety Fee. The fee was established by state law to support public safety and Highway Patrol operations. The fee goes into effect for registrations due in January which can be paid as early as Dec. 1, and immediately for newly registered vehicles.
The fee will be collected during the vehicle-registration process administered by the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division. Arizona statute established the method for collecting the fee and sets the process for determining the amount based on a formula designed to support Highway Patrol operations.
Highway Patrol operations — among the most visible functions of the Arizona Department of Public Safety — include response to collisions on Arizona highways, enforcing state laws designed to keep the motoring public safe, arresting impaired drivers, assisting motorists in distress, air-rescue operations and patrolling more than 6,800 miles of highways.
Most motorists will pay $32 per vehicle, per year. Street-legal golf carts and primarily off-highway vehicles will pay $5. Those who register a vehicle annually or pay for a two- or five-year registration will pay the entire amount up front for each registered year.
The funds raised through the Public Safety Fee will not only provide necessary dollars for public safety, but will advance maintenance and construction of Arizona’s highway infrastructure, including the state’s Key Commerce Corridors that support economic development around the state.
Over the past decade, much of the Highway Patrol’s budget was considered part of the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund, the gas-tax account that supports Arizona roadways, including law-enforcement support. The new $32 Public Safety Fee will allow gas-tax money to support roadway maintenance and construction, while providing a different source of funding for Highway Patrol operations."
This is literally the first I was hearing about this. So I did a little digging and found that Arizona Governor Doug " The Duce " Ducey signed a bill (HB 2166) into law allowing the assessment of this new fee on every street legal vehicle in Arizona.
The reason for this new tax...err...fee...is simple.
We're not buying enough gas. Since gas tax collections are down due to all those hybrids and light rail commuters, the money for public safety has to come from somewhere and Governor Ducey doesn't want it coming out of the state general fund anymore. He's too busy raiding that for our "business friendly" economy. You know, the one that suppresses wages and encourages employers to come here for the cheap labor.
Oh and you Tree Hugging Prius drivers out there...You're getting hit too. The VLT is going up from 1% of the value of your Green Machine to 30%. Apparently the State House didn't feel you were paying your "fair share."
I won't mince words here. This is in fact a TAX designed to set up a separate pool of money expressly for the use of the state's police force, the Department of Public Safety (DPS.) But hold on there, it's also supposed to provide money for highway construction and maintenance. Something the Gas tax currently does and will continue to do.
What The F***?
So with the stroke of a pen we've effectively created a separate budget with a separate funding source with complete autonomy to do...what we were already doing.
What is this going to do for public safety anyway IS DPS going to buy more Ford Excursions to blast down I-17 gulping down gallons of gas per mile? Will it put more officer's on the road? Oh yeah and that bit about funding road improvements?
Last I heard DPS was recruiting more officers not laying them off. The last part really bothers me though. The one that says the extra money will also fund "maintenance and construction of the state's highway Infrastructure."
In the next paragraph we're told the gas tax will continue to fund those projects as well. Folks, the busiest highways in the Phoenix Metro area are I-10 and I-17, US 60 with ancillary freeways like Loop 202, 101, 303, 143 and so on. The busiest by far are the Interstates which receive FEDERAL FUNDING for their construction and maintenance! That's also where the bulk of DPS enforcement occurs.
They expect to bring in around $150 million a year from this new fee with the money destined for " public safety and Highway Patrol Operations." *Note: That number was based on a fee of $18.06 not the $32 cited in the MVD notice...(somebody got greedy)
This is in addition to the standard VLT (based on valuation and slowly decreases over time) and the Air Quality Fee. Not to mention the fee for emissions testing that 90% of most daily driven vehicles must pay at the time of registration.
I could go into all the legalese and political justifications made for this but there are really two glaring issues as I see it.
The First is, Exactly WHAT public safety and Patrol operations are being paid for with this influx of revenue? Are we going to stop all those wrong way drivers? Are we going to trade the Impalas and Crown Vics for Hellcats? Maybe bring back the freeway Photo Radar? I see nothing new here, nothing that justifies such a hefty price to effectively do what we're already doing now.
In short I don't buy it. Arizona has a long history of "misplacing" public funds to private pockets. This looks like another opportunity for such hi jinx. State Route 51 almost didn't get built because of such shenanigans.
That or it's just another opportunity to set up a funding source for more corporate tax breaks.
Remember that part about Hybrid owners paying their "fair share?" That term doesn't appear to apply to big business in Arizona. 74% of corporations in the state paid $50 or less in corporate taxes as of January 2018. My personal income tax bill is higher than that and I haven't made anywhere near the millions these companies do.
The second is a little more fringe but worth mentioning. I'm always suspicious when a separate and distinct pool of taxpayer money is set up exclusively for a police force. It's another step toward an autonomous police entity with weakened oversight and ultimately the first stepping stone toward a literal "police state."
In the current political climate that's not as big a stretch as it used to be.
And while I'm at it...Where the hell are the Trump supporters and TEA party people on this? This is a TAX levied without a vote, without referendum and without consent.
This is another attack on "the little guy" and more of them are Red than Blue in this state.
You guys are OK with that?
I'm not.
At worst this is a chilling political development and at best another example of ignoring classical conservative values of smaller government and less bureaucracy.
But then the last "classical" Republican in the state was John McCain and Trumpies didn't like him no matter how many medals he had or how far right he blew from moderate.
We have highway funds mixed in with DPS funds now and nothing but the standard "public safety" tagline for its reason for being.
Finally, you may not care about an extra $32 bucks a year but for those on the lower end of the income spectrum who have to drive to work that increase effectively doubles the cost of vehicle registration.
It is in practice a regressive tax affecting those who can afford it least.
I suppose you're OK with that too.
This kind of crap needs to stop. This is literally taxation without representation which can be found in that other of most treasured American Historical Documents, The Declaration of Independence.
Or have you forgotten that too....
This may seem like a petty gripe over a local fee but remember that all politics are indeed local. It's small steps that lead to tyranny.
