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Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Document
Sun Archives
- Lobbyist presses fiscal case for DMV contract (5-7-2009)
- Bill would hand DMV contract to one company (4-29-2009)
- Auto body shop bill's backer denies conflict (4-28-2009)
- Northerners winning war of the wait at DMV offices (4-4-09)
- Editorial: Return of long lines? (3-17-2009)
- Plan: Make DMV more infernal (3-15-2009)
- High-security driver's license system coming to DMV (10-22-2008)
Beyond the Sun
Sun Coverage
The great white whale for many legislators this session: motorists who move to Nevada but never register their cars with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The state has higher vehicle registration fees than many other states, and some people — the number is hard to quantify — move here but continue to keep their cars registered in their previous states.
On Monday Assembly Bill 291 was heard by the Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee. It would increase the fine for not registering a vehicle from $250 to $1,000.
Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, said people try to skate by without registering their vehicles in Nevada, and the threat of a $250 fine is not enough.
The bill would allow the $1,000 fine to be reduced to $200 if the offender registers the vehicle.
Still, Schneider worried that provision wasn’t enough.
“If car registration costs $1,000 and you get by for two years, you’re going to save $1,800,” he said.
Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, suggested making the fine double the cost of registering the car.
“There are six cars on my street, and they’re still not registering their cars, no matter what I tell them,” he said.
Assemblywoman Ellen Spiegel, D-Henderson, the sponsor of the bill, said increasing vehicle registrations 5 percent could yield $16.5 million a year.
“The state is struggling,” she said. “People lived across from me for four years and never registered their cars. It’s one of those things that just angers me.”
•••
The financial beating local governments have been taking at the Legislature continued Monday. A legislative budget subcommittee voted to take away $50 million in indigent accident funds that normally would go to county hospitals, including Clark County’s public University Medical Center.
Jeff Fontaine, executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties, said University Medical Center alone will lose $40 million in the next 2 1/2 years as a result of the actions by the Senate Finance and the Assembly Ways and Means committees.
Fontaine said the state, which is taking the money to increase funding for Medicaid, is instead using it “to replace a hole in the general fund budget.”
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said lawmakers will talk to the counties about alleviating the shortfall.
Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said legislators “are going to have to find some way to alleviate the loss to local governments.”
I for one, am against any more laws that benifit the already greedy insurance companies and punishes those strugling to make ends meet. I agree that unregistered vehicals need to be located and punished. A few locals already just can't pay to register on time and need to wait until they have money to do so. $1,000 will just drive them further underground and create a another dark hiding place. Why don't we just pay a bounty of say $50 for turning those specific violaters in? That way the county gets their money, the culperts are caught, the local poor can enjoy not having to hide and the angry neighbor is also satisfied.
High fees and taxes will always encourage tax evasion and blackmarkets.
Just ask Obama's Sec of Treasury. Geithner. He has successful cheated the IRS and Uncle Sam out of money and now he oversees the IRS.
I am sure that the gangs and mob just love love love it each time taxes go up on beer, spirits and tobacco.
The fine needs to be much, much more than what the fee is - or else why would ANYONE pay the fee? Of course it needs to be raised. Or does anyone actually think all those out of state plates at the local supermarkets are tourists who drove here from SOUTH DAKOTA and are picking up a few things for their hotel room?
They do not need more fines, Just more enforcement. Might I suggest starting at employee parking lots.
When I moved here from another State I was told by my auto insurance company I had been with for 10 years, incident free, my rates were going to triple from what I paid back home.
So would my registration fees.
Thank God I still had 11 months left on my old plates.
Nevada has a wry hustler's attitude towards tourists, whom we cheat routinely, that is filtering down to its citizens.
Want better compliance - especially in this economy - LOWER the rates...
To little, too late. When I moved to Henderson in 2000, I was amazed at the amount of out of state vehicles at the big WalMart. Every other car was from somewhere else. Not now. The parking lot is half filled, and most of the cars have Nevada plates. As usual, the legislative loafers have missed the boat. They're simply making a grandstand play.
As Howard Cosell used to say-"It's Ovah".
bill_in_henderson,
In addition to the fine, you also must pay for the months your plates have been expired. So, if they expire in November, you get popped in May, you get the fine PLUS you owe for the months past.
That said, please, do not raise the fine for people who already have Nevada plates but have expired tabs. Most of those folks are low on cash to begin with. If the fine goes higher, they simply won't re-register because they DON'T HAVE THE MONEY.
This story is not correct. Vehicle registration in Nevada costs $33.00 for an auto/pickup and $1.00 for the standard license plate, read your receipt. The additional taxes (basic government services/supplemental government services tax) are collected by the DMV for county government, in accordance with state law. Don't like the taxes tell your Representative in Carson City, they levy taxes!
How about offering a finder's (or snitch) fee to one who turns in the offending party?
For what legitimate purpose should the state require anyone to register their personal property with it, including their vehicles?
These problem could easily be solved if all 50 States would share infomation about out of state renewal's --- Because what is going on here is just another case of fraud. You don't need to hurt the little guy with bigger fines just have better enforcement.
One only needs to observe cars dropping kids off at school or around employee parking lots or construction areas to see just how bad the problem really is. Pass the law with large fines and include snitch fees along with it, bet that would significantly decrease the problem and increase fee collections. By the way, which agency will be in charge of enforcing this law, or will it be another sounds good on paper but unenforcible law?
KillerB
No reason I can think of except revenue and because they can. Kind of like your drivers lisc. which under law requires an address and if you live in Nevada under their state requirement you are to have a Nevada lisc.
The register does have one benefit which is the plate is tied to a vehicle, a person, and an address which is kind of important for Amber alerts, theft reporting, hit and run where someone gets a plate number. I know if the plate is stolen or lost etc, etc, but have you ever noticed most people dont plan ahead enough to use stolen plates every day.
Pass the law then watch cops start ticketing anyone and everyone not on I-15 with out of state plates.
It's about revenue, people, not about what's right and wrong.
castle -- thanx for the take on why, but tracking citizens unreasonably is against the very fabric of being American. Like, why do the cops need to know who I am under the guise of an "amber alert," etc.? And your point about stolen plates is excellent.
A ridiculous Bill. The cost to register cars in Nevada is out of line, and that is why people keep their cars with Arizona plates, or any of the other states where the total cost to register a new car is under $50 NOT $500 plus!
Make it affordable, and there will never be an issue!
I have lived in Las Vegas/Henderson since 1972. When I moved here, I got my vehicle registered and obtained my Nevada license immediately. I personally have counted the vehicles driving in my local neighborhood all hours of the day and nights, and I must say there are a lot. Especially high dollar vehicles, Mercedes, BMW's fancy SUV' with chrome wheels that must cost a fortune. I have actually followed some of them home only to see them park their vehicles proudly in their fancy home driveways. You bet this bill should be passed and passed quickly and then maybe the rest of us could get a little relief in our registration. If they want to live here, do what is required by law. More importantly, our LAWS SHOULD BE ENFORCED. A suggestion might be to go to work places and watch these individuals walk into work or apartment buildings and check on their leases and the dates that they have lived and worked here. My home state of Maryland does this on a regular basis. But per usual our politicians want to kiss everyone and hurt the rest of us.
you choose... state income tax or high vehicle registration taxes.
For most vehicles the base registration fee is $33 in Nevada. The DMV collects county taxes against the original MSRP, which is adjusted downward yearly. (Example: 2009 Cadillac MSRP approx $50K. Clark County "govermental fee" and voter approved "supplemental fee" and $33 registration fee will be close to $915 if you register such car tomorrow. Next year's registration will be approx 16% less - about $775.00, in 2011 plan to pay $685. 16% reduction every year for the following 10 years until a base minimum of about $75 yearly.
If you can afford a brand new Caddy - you're probably enjoying a yearly income base of about $100K... Invite a state income tax of 5% - which is near what Utah, AZ and CA have - you'll be paying $5K a year in state taxes and only $35 - $80 in vehicle registration fees. Fair trade? I don't think so.