Democrats At It AgainThis Time It's Tag Fees

"Last week we witnessed another glowing example of the politics of disinformation and misdirection from state Democrats. This time the spokesman was Representative Russ Roach (D-Tulsa). Attempting to draw citizen focus away from the real issue, the fact that Oklahoma's individual auto tag fees are too high, he attacked the low cost of farm, tractor and trailer tag fees. He also took it upon himself to dismiss these fees that have been studied and established by previous legislatures, in essence calling past legislature's work superfluous."

"He attacked the price of farm, tractor, and trailer tags without studying or considering the underlying reasons for their pricing structure. He attempts to argue that the average citizen's tag is too high because the tags for farmers and truckers are too low. The facts are plain and simple. Tag pricing is by nature an arbitrary market-driven process. The prices for individual non-commercial tags in Oklahoma are just too high."

"The Representative from Tulsa now wants to raise the cost on those who have reasonable tag fees rather than make everyone's tag fee more reasonable. The real message is 'here the Democrats go again raising taxes and fees as the answer for everything.'"

"However, we invited the trucking industry to spend their money in our state by buying our tags. The advantage is that Oklahoma raises tremendous amounts of money with low trucker's tag fees and most trucking companies don't even use our roads. The Representative from Tulsa thinks that we will get more money by raising these fees. This is foolish thinking. If the fees are raised, trucking companies will simply go buy their tags in other states with lower tag fees and Oklahoma will be the loser."

"Currently Oklahoma registers tractors and trailers under the provisions of the International Registration Plan (IRP). Under the IRP trucks and tractors that are based in another state can be registered in Oklahoma. Some would have you believe this is illegal. This, however, is not the case. Every state in our country, Canada and Mexico has signed an agreement that allows this type of registration. Because of the IRP, Oklahoma collects millions in revenues from trucks and trailers that may never travel our roads. Now, as usual, the Democrats want to say business is not welcome in Oklahoma by raising truck fees."

"The last thing Oklahoma needs is a higher fee. The last thing Oklahoma needs to do is send the trucking industry a message like the one that was sent to General Motors after they built their plant here…'We know the deal we made, but that was yesterday and today we want more.' The facts are clear there is nothing wrong with our farm, tractor, and trailer tag pricing. There is a great deal wrong with the individual tag fee."

"Representative Todd Hiett and I are introducing legislation this session to reduce the high cost of auto tags. This legislation lowers the price for these tag fees. Our proposal is that car owners will pay $85.00 for a car one to five (1-5) years old, $45.00 for years six through ten (6-10) and $15.00 for older cars. This is a fair solution to the high cost of auto tags and protects the state from losing millions of dollars in outside trucking fees."