We and others have long demanded that the city do something about the frustrating specter of people who brazenly drive around with temporary registration tags on their cars that are months or years out of date, flouting their failure to pay the required vehicle taxes and provide proof of insurance.
But pardon us if the solution that Mayor Tishaura O. Jones finally announced this week isn’t exactly what we (or, we’d guess, most ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ans) had in mind: She wants to loan city tax money to those drivers so they can pay their overdue vehicle taxes.
To which we can only say: Huh?
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Expired tags certainly aren’t the most pressing issue in the Wild, Wild West of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ traffic, but it’s symptomatic of all the others: Traffic laws are largely just ignored here, with little or no consequence.
Anyone who drives in the city knows how common it is to pull up behind another car at a red light (assuming they’ve bothered to stop) and see a paper tag sporting an expiration date from last year or the year before in bold, black print.
Missouri’s antiquated vehicle-registration system has for years allowed car buyers to take their cars home with temporary registration tags, on the promise of later completing the required registration process to obtain permanent plates. That process includes providing proof of insurance and paying state and local vehicle taxes and fees, often totaling in the thousands of dollars.
The buyer is supposed to complete that process within 30 days of the car purchase. Perhaps not surprisingly, a substantial number of buyers choose instead to finish it by the second Tuesday of next week.
And why not? The only enforcement mechanism is the risk of getting pulled over and ticketed for an expired temp tag — which, as everyone knows, is a relative rarity in much of the city. Whether because of police understaffing or hesitance to have police engage so directly with the community, most registration-tag scofflaws can confidently display their severely out-of-date tags with little worry.
The driving majority that fulfills their registration responsibilities have been understandably aggravated by the issue. Jurisdictions like and have recently cracked down with programs to pull over and ticket cars with expired tags. Which strikes us as a no-brainer.
But the approach Jones’ administration is now recommending is one that we’ve not been able to find being used or suggested in any other community. Which shouldn’t be surprising, given how little sense it makes.
As the Post-Dispatch’s Austin Huguelet reports, Jones’ office says it wants to set aside $350,000 to provide loans to city residents whose tags are out of date, to help them get current.
The rationale is a marvel in one-dimensional logic: Mayoral aide Sara Baker noted that, statistically, drivers who have paid proper registration and insurance on their cars “often are safer on the roads.â€
Yes — because those are drivers who registered and insured their cars when they were supposed to. How does giving someone money to obey a law they were previously ignoring suddenly make them more responsible drivers?
Other questions abound: Will the city charge interest on these loans? Who would qualify? Does the owner of a six-figure luxury SUV get the taxpayers’ help to bring the plates current?
And how will the loans be collected from those who don’t repay them? That seems an especially relevant question since, by definition, the loans will be going to those who have already demonstrated a willingness to not pay what they owe.
We’re not blind to the challenges that lower-income drivers in particular face in Missouri, which has unusually high vehicle taxes and a ludicrous registration system.
But we’re not talking about food, shelter or medical care here. There is no inherent right to drive a car you can’t afford to pay for — which includes paying the taxes. It’s really not that complicated.
The Missouri Legislature last year finally approved a new system to roll the vehicle taxes and the rest into the cost of the car at the time of purchase, instead of leaving a lingering major expense for later. But this being Missouri, it will be two or three years before the technology for the new system is fully in place.
Until then, there are better ways the city can help struggling drivers than loaning them money for expenses on vehicles they apparently can’t afford. How about an amnesty program to give people a set period of time to bring their plates current with no interest, back fees or questions asked?
That would make sense — but only if it’s combined with stricter enforcement of registration requirements on the street. For those who continue to flout the law, the city should be handing out citations, not loans.
