Thursday, June 20, 2024

Taxing Our Credulity

 

June 17, 2024

 

In a warm-hearted effort to help people who don’t pay tax on their car purchases, thereby driving around with expired tags, the city of St. Louis will now lend them the money to pay the tax.

“They probably can’t afford it,” says the city, blithely disregarding the many owners of higher-end cars with expired paper tags. “So, we’ll lend them the money for the tax.” That’s right—now they’re going to “lend” money to people who clearly have no scruples about paying for things in the first place.

But that’s not even why I’m writing this. The sentence that caught my eye was, “Ultimately, officials say, it will make the streets safer for everyone.” (Post-Dispatch, June 16, 2024)

 

I hate to break it to the officials, but the tags aren’t making the streets unsafe—unless you count distracted drivers craning their necks to see how old the paper license plate is.

 

 

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