GOP senator wants to cut, cap vehicle registration fee

[Arizona Freedom Alliance]

President George Bush famously said NO NEW TAXES as a campaign promise.  Then raised taxes.  Unfortunately, Pres. Bush failed to wait until his second term to do that!  Gov. Ducey was much more crafty than Bush 41.  He promised the teachers union he would grant teachers a 20% salary increase without raising taxes, a promise he has no authority to make.  Voters, not being curious people on the whole, didn't know that, which the Gov was counting on.

It is only NOW that people are figuring out the BIG LIE.  We are stunned that anyone believes a politician's promises.  A couple of weeks ago, we all found out that Ducey's NO NEW TAXES promise was as empty as a whiskey glass at closing time at a cowboy bar.  He raised auto registration taxes, aka fee, by $32 per vehicle.  Tell us you are as stunned as we are.  

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Angered that a new charge for Arizona auto owners will cost double what was forecasted, a Republican lawmaker has proposed reducing and capping the fee.

Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said a public safety fee charged when Arizonans register their vehicles should be cut from $32 to at least $18, the amount state budget analysts estimated the fee would cost as lawmakers voted on it in February and April.

The fee is intended to fully fund the state’s Highway Patrol within the Department of Public Safety, but is set by the director of the Department of Transportation.

Essentially, ADOT Director John Halikowski is tasked with dividing the Highway Patrol budget, plus a 10 percent buffer, by the number of vehicles that need to be registered this year. With a budget of roughly $168 million and 5.8 million vehicles to register, Halikowski arrived at $32.

Petersen, who voted against the bill granting the fee-setting authority to the ADOT director, said the higher-than-advertised charge is “exactly what people feared.”

“We always have these estimates and people make their decisions off of estimates, but how often are those predictions accurate?” Petersen said.

Capping the fee at $18 would at least reflect the terms that lawmakers thought they were agreeing to when they voted for the fee, he said.

“I think a lot of people based their decision off that $18 number, so I would hope we could get enough people to agree to that,” Petersen said. “I’d like zero, but the lower the better.”

Capping the fee would have a ripple effect that threatens Gov. Doug Ducey’s spending priorities.

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[Patricia Gillenwater]

Well I say pat this guy on the back!

[Ray Sweeney]

Has the tax-enthralled Arizona legislature finally run out of taxation ideas?  They now have allowed a bureaucracy to initiate a  new tax to piggyback on an already existing tax without input from the citizenry who have to foot the bill for an ever-broadening wish list by law-enforcement industry.  (Yes, that's the terminology that's appropriate.)   Perhaps the legislature, in their fervor to bolster the coffers of the state treasury will begin to tax donations to charities.  That's virtually the only thing that isn't already taxed heavily in the great state of Arizona.  Arizona has the distinction of being the second-highest tax rate in the nation.  Are we anxious to eclipse the the only remaining higher taxed state?  Kudos to Michelle Ugenti-Rita for her efforts to reign in the ever-broadening authority of every bureaucrat looking to increase their "vision" by increasing their slush funds.  What happened to the notion that new taxes have to pass by a 60% majority legislative vote?