Taxes and Fees Just Kept On going Up

Taxes and Fees Just Kept On going Up

fiction
edward w pritchard



Mrs Carson was unable to drive her car because she waited more than seven days to make the annual renewal of the License plates on her 1967 Olds Cutlass. Being impeccably honorable she would not drive the vehicle the four miles to her home in Akron, Ohio with the expired plates. She decided to sit and wait at the license renewal office [DMV] and pray for guidance. At length she decided to contact the nearby Mayor of the next town North from her town, which was Cuyahoga Falls, and ask for his assistance; since she could not afford a lawyer.

Mrs. Carson was 78, lived alone and had been sick at home the last 10 days. She had been unable to get into the DMV to renew her plates, the deadline to renew had passed, and the Lady at the counter at the DMV had explained there would be a twenty dollar late fee to renew [ since the 7 day late grace period had ran]. The seven day grace period had been granted just this year to cover contingencies such as sickness or lack of funds to pay the fifty five dollars or so it now cost to renew the license tags on vehicles in Ohio. Although the $20 was new it had been duly considered and passed by the Ohio legislature and would be equally enforced against all Ohio Citizens. In Ohio, if one drove with expired plates, that is had no renewal sticker displayed on the vehicle, traffic fees were imposed of $75 to $250 depending on local ordinance and a lot of factors such as attitude of the driver, ability to afford counsel and ability to pay. If an officer stopped a driver for expired plates, they then had probable cause to check for burnt out bulbs, check past record, check in the trunk, visually inspect the car, and if they felt that sufficient suspicion existed that night out on a dark road; check in a glove box or at times a locked briefcase. Naturally all officers involved had been trained to enforce the regulations equally against rich and poor. The fines imposed from the traffic violations were a good source of fee income and there had once been an article in the Cleveland, Ohio Bankers Association Magazine that sited the innovative attempts by local government to raise fee income with the implication that local banker's needed to consider how to raise their user fees, assessments, and fines because such fees were becoming "sticky" upward and difficult to collect because of competition between government and private enterprise. Arguments such whether there was a correlation between organizational life functioning skills between rich and poor and ability to cope with the nuisance of superfluous government interventions had not been considered because State government officials didn't consider $20 to be that much money in the scheme of things.


In addition to the license fees and late fees there was an E-check, an attempt to monitor cars impact on the environment in large cities; and to partially counter the effects on the eco-system by monstrous development of suburban housing.The E-check fee had once been twenty dollars to administer but citizen backlash based on it being a regressive tax and unfair to the poor, the elderly and those with older cars had caused the fee to be waived. Since there was no longer an e-check fee of twenty dollars, the new fee of the late charge after 7 days was filling in the gap of lost revenue.

Mrs. Carson's, now sitting and waiting for divine intervention at one of the branches of the Ohio DMV, only source of income was social security and $20 was real money to her. Each month over the last 12 months since the last license renewal she had budgeted $4.90 to pay for the next license plate renewal. She had paid 4.60 per month last year, and if there was no raise in fees the difference between 4.60 and 4.90 times twelve, or 3.60 would be hers to buy something for the house with or for herself.

Mrs. Carson had arrived at the DMV at 9:00 AM sharp despite the snowy roads and snowy parking lot and was one of the first in line today. When Mrs. Carson found out about the new $20 fee from the nice lady at the DMV she asked for her options. Both the clerk and her supervisor had explained, using a prepared script the benefits of the fee to the State, locality and Mrs. Carson herself. The bottom line was that in Ohio the DMV's were a for profit business, employed local workers, and the rule was applied equally against all citizens of the 88 counties in Ohio. The clerk at the counter had suggested she use her conscious in deciding if she should drive the vehicle home with expired plates. She did, and she decided not to drive the car. She then sat down in the empty lobby and decided to pray for guidance.

While sitting. the image of the Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls had flashed in her mind. He was't her Mayor but he had a reputation of helping those in need. Several times she had seen him on the TV and local news helping in various situations.

After her inspiration, another woman heard about Mrs. Carson's scenario and had sent a text message to the Mayor's office of Cuyahoga Falls explaining the situation and asking him to please call back.

About fifteen minutes later the Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls had walked into the Akron DMV. He was hard to miss for he had bright red hair and an engaging, boyish smile. He was about 63, younger than Mrs. Carson had thought and as soon as he sat next to her she felt reassured. The Mayor had a way of focusing all his attention on the person he was with that was sincere, and destined to make him a lot of lasting friends. After the Mayor heard the situation with the twenty dollar fee, rather than go up to the clerks at the counter and throw around his celebrity and influence, the Mayor decided to just sit quietly with Mrs. Carson and think on his next move. Over the next 30 minutes all twenty lobby seats at the DMV filled up with supporters of Mrs.Carson.

At length a local police officer was summoned less there be a civil disturbance similar to Shay's Rebellion. The police officer being older and experienced in such matters assessed the situation and decided to do nothing and asked if he could also just have a seat while he waited for further orders.

In time, a rumor began to spread throughout the DMV that a Cleveland [ Ohio] TV station was sending a crew down to investigate, promote and incite the local grassroots tax rebellion started by Mrs.Carson the elderly widow. When Mrs. Carson heard about the TV coverage, she decided to try to compromise because she did not wish her neighbors, the employees of the local DMV to suffer with their bosses over her problems. With the help of the Mayor a compromise was reached where a one time extraordinary extension of 3 extra days could be granted to Mrs. Carson due to the unseeability of her recent illness.

After the plates and tags were reissued and the Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls had helped her properly place the tag on the snowy car in the snowy cold parking lot; Mrs. Carson asked the Mayor one small favor after thanking him for his prompt assistance.
The Mayor was asked to use his office and staff to look into the fairness of a twenty dollar fee imposed regardless of ability to pay or situation.

After some consideration the Mayor agreed to pursue the matter. In truth he was having trouble understanding a near 40% increase in the cost to renew a license plate after 7 days beyond a mandatory deadline. Although the Mayor was a busy man with a full agenda he decided at last to look into the matter when Mrs. Carson reminded him that although it had worked for her to pray for divine guidance in the matter, some citizens might not know how to do so or feel such a matter was worthwhile to bring to God's attention.

Mrs. Carson before she slowly and carefully drove off in the 67 Cutlass decided to next year, starting with her next social security check, to budget $6.50 a month for the license renewal; and being optimistic hoped for no raise in license fees over the next year, so she could spend the few extra dollars on something nice for her home.