Why Doesn’t the Municipality Write More Fines for Expired License Plates?

I’m amazed at how many vehicles have expired or missing license plates. The fine for this violation is approximately $250. I think two well-equipped police officers on a busy street would cost about $1,500 a day with overhead; then the duo could easily write tickets worth twice that. This means the city’s daily earnings are more than $1,500. Why doesn’t this happen? —Angry Entrepreneur

I don’t know if you’ve never had a traffic ticket (maybe you’re a scrupulously law-abiding Walter Mitty type) or if you just refuse to pay (maybe you’re one of those guys standing on your porch). an AR-15, “Come and Get It” tattooed on his bare, bandolier-adorned chest). All I know is that you haven’t paid a traffic ticket recently, or you would have noticed that the checks were made payable to the State of Oregon, not the City of Portland.

Of course, some of this money is eventually returned to local governments. However, the refunded amount is probably calculated according to crime, jurisdiction, moon phase, etc., in accordance with a Byzantine accounting system specifically designed to defeat seemingly reasonable schemes like yours. varies depending on To add insult to injury, the estimated fine for not displaying license plates is actually only $115, further reducing your profits.

But look on the bright side: The cops aren’t ignoring your scam because they’re hopeless idiots. They ignore it because it won’t work! Although traffic tickets are widely believed to be a source of money for local governments, nationwide these tickets account for less than 1% of state and local revenues. If you factor in the salaries of the police and some administrative expenses, it’s a complete fiasco.

Even if writing tickets is as lucrative as you suggest, Furious, consider the opportunity costs. You can imagine eagle-eyed budget managers arguing that police should spend ALL their time writing revenue-generating traffic tickets rather than wasting resources on financial black holes like murder and arson. But as soon as you adopted such a plan, you would be surrounded by narrow-minded victims’ rights groups. Where is the vision?

It doesn’t matter. The Portland Bureau of Transportation just announced that vehicles without visible identifiers can now be towed without notice. That’s good news for both of us: Your concerns about dishonorable sarcastic laws are being put to rest, and I’m getting little real news to fill my column—always handy when the dick jokes start to die down.

Do you have any questions? Send them to: [email protected].