It may be no surprise to people, but I have often said if you do the exact opposite of what the Argus Leader ED Board tells you, you will be fine. Once again they support changing something that is not broken.
Currently, fees are based on the weight and age of a vehicle. Owners of noncommercial vehicles that are more than 5 years old get a 30 percent discount. Owners of commercial vehicles in that age bracket get a 10 percent discount.
The age-based discount is puzzling, and many residents might have been unaware that it exists.
However, those who’ve benefitted from the discount probably have known about it, and some will be more than miffed if the discounts disappear.
But regardless of why the state created that age-based break, it makes sense to get rid of it.
Like I have said earlier this week, people who own older vehicles more then likely drive less, either because they don’t have a lot of money to begin with or they are thrifty. So the argument about ‘wear and tear’ is a weak one. The other problem I have with this is you are only raising fees on a certain sector. If we really need to raise fees (which I don’t think we need to) then raise them on everybody accordingly (that is only fair).
A vehicle’s weight is what creates wear and tear on roads and highways, regardless of how old the vehicle is. That state’s fees already are appropriately higher for heavier vehicles.
NO THEY ARE NOT. If you own a smaller vehicle you are almost paying twice as much in proportion to it’s weight then if you own a heavy one. Essentially now the state is punishing people who choose to own more economic vehicles and cutting a discount to people who own larger ones. Please fix that first.
Ditching the registration discounts will generate $12 million a year.
A much simpler approach to raising money would be to make cuts, and lots of them. You could probably cut a handful of no-bid state contracts and come up with the $12 million. A couple of people have pointed out we spend $11 million a year just on maintaining recreational snowmobile trails. How has that ever helped me or other hardworking South Dakotans?
We need common sense and fiscal responsibility in Pierre, not more taxes and fees.
It always amazes me when the SD MSM becomes a cheerleader for higher taxes for the poor (while they enjoy collecting NO taxes on Advertising – something that needs to be fixed). Then they sit around in Editorial Board meetings and wonder why no one reads their paper any more.
Get a clue.