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Death by A Thousand Cuts, A Series
July 19, 2009 Government Gone Wild

Just looked at the fine print of my car insurance bill from State Farm. Each year, per car, I must pay a $5 “New York Law Enforcement Fee.” I still do not know what it is for. I’d love to see a comprehensive list of all the taxes and fees that governments extract directly or indirectly from the automobile. Do you really think elected officials want us to forgo our cars and use mass transit when the golden goose is parked in every single yard in America?

Here is a start:

  1. Vehicle sales tax
  2. License fee
  3. Registration fee
  4. Gasoline excise tax
  5. Insurance company policy taxes
  6. The tax mentioned above
  7. State inspection fees and taxes
  8. Bridge and tunnel fees
  9. Some states charge property taxes on vehicles
  10. Income taxes on the auto dealers, manufacturers and parts suppliers
  11. Payroll taxes from auto company employees
  12. … and more to come
"2" Comments
  1. In MO, you have the option to register for one or two years. On the fee, part is administrative costs. I would have though the fee would be the same for one or two years, since there is no difference between the admin work for the two options. But as you can guess, it doubles if you choose the two year option.

  2. There is a difference, Michael. The interminable wait that we all experience as the government union workers process annual registrations is cut in half when we opt for bi-annual registration…yet many locales do not pass the savings back to us. Makes you wonder how cheap tags would be if we could just buy one for the average life of the average vehicle and be done with it.

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