By WILLIAM L. DAY
Pain of paying passenger car license fees relieved for those getting special plates
PEOPLE HATE to pay taxes, it is said, and supposedly they despise the tax collector, yet the collection of the State government's most complex annual tax has come to be recognized as a major political asset, partly because of the name advertising the tax administrator receives, and partly because he can lawfully and properly do favors for the taxpayers.
The tax is the motor vehicle registration fee. The tax collector whose name appears on all the tax forms is Secretary of State Michael J. Hewlett. The favors are the special license plate combinations such as the applicant's initials, street address, phone number, or birth dale, that he can grant on request, provided the combination hasn't been previously assigned.
Illinois now registers more than 6.5 million motor vehicles — 5.3 million passenger cars, taxis, and motorcycles (termed "first division" vehicles) and about 1.3 million "second division" vehicles such as trucks, buses, and trailers. The fees collected exceed $268 million a year. Vehicles of the first division are registered on a calendar year basis, and the others on July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
Problem is enormous peak load
A major problem in the
administration of vehicle registration is the
enormous peak load that occurs in
December, January, and February.
Although passenger car plates do not
expire until December 31, part of the
year-end workload is shifted back into
the fall months by a September 30
deadline on requests for reassignment
of the same number. Advance requests
(and fees) for special numbers are also
due by September 30. This year 700, 000
reassignment applications and 250, 000
requests for special numbers were
received. The volume of special requests
has gone up this year because it is now
possible to issue a plate that begins with
three letters, so you can ask for a
nickname (JIM, KEN, PAT, TOM) or
initials. Once a person gets a special
number, he usually renews it.
While part of the renewal workload is shifted forward in this way, the deadline for police warning and ticketing of motorists driving with expired plates is usually postponed until the middle of February, so that the peak months for renewals are January and February.
About a third of the passenger car plates are mailed directly from the Springfield warehouse of the Secretary of State's automobile department to the registrant. Another 27 per cent are sold over the counter at state facilities in Springfield (one location) and Chicago (three locations). But the biggest portion is handled by banks and currency exchanges — about two-fifths of the total. Sale of plates by banks and currency exchanges saves the State an estimated $1 million in postage and reduces personnel costs. For 1975 plates, 364 banks and 675 currency exchanges will participate in plate distribution. Agencies such as these which accept money for remittance to the State for vehicle fees are licensed by the Secretary of State and bonded as "remittance agents." They are permitted to make a nominal charge for this service. A former requirement for notarization of the application (with consequent notary public fee) has been repealed.
Collection of tax is complex
The collection of this tax is complex
because many classifications and types
of plates are used. Fees for the various
classifications are as follows: $18 for
passenger cars of 35 horsepower or less,
$30 for over 35 hp.; $30 and special
plates for taxis, ambulances, funeral
cars, the cars of handicapped and
amateur radio hams; special plates and
no fee for disabled veterans: special
plates and $5 fee for municipal and
driver education vehicles, school and
intracity buses; $8 for farm trucks or
trailers where highway use is incidental
to farm use; $14 for electric cats $10
for antique cars; and $20 for parade
vehicles. For vehicles of the second
division (trucks, etc.), there are a total of 80
classes. Fee possibilities are about
double the number of classes because of
semi-annual fees, and ina few cases
two-year fees.
In the case of most official registration activities, it is sufficient to send the registrant a certificate bear. his name and address. But in the case of motor vehicle registration, each vehicle must be assigned its own number, for identification, tax collection, aid law enforcement purposes.
Vehicle registration information is available to police in the State through a network of long distance lines and computers which link them with the records of the Illinois Secretary of State and other State agencies. Hewlett's office regularly provides this registration information to law enforcement agencies on microfiche cards — 4 by 6 inch microfilmed sheets of computer records, each containing numbers, names, addresses, and vehicle descriptions. These cards displace cumbersome "wheel books" distributed in earlier years. The microfiche cards are updated and mailed nine times a year; they cover five million passenger cars and two million other vehicles.
Use computer system
When local police cannot identify a
vehicle from the microfiche records.
they teletype an inquiry to the nearest
state police district headquarters. Each
headquarters is connected to the Law
Enforcement Agencies Data System
22 /Illinois Issues/January 1975