This morning, I drove Mr. Shakes to the train, and we were having our usual morning chat about this and that while we waited for it to arrive. We noticed that nearly every car parked around us had one of Indiana’s new “In God We Trust” license plates, which Hoosiers can select as an alternative to the standard plate at no extra charge. Although we pay an additional fee for our environmental plates that goes to the Indiana Land Trust, the additional fee for the godplates is absorbed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and has so far cost Indiana taxpayers $1.5 million.
Thomas at Blue Indiana also notes:
Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Louisiana all offer their own version of this same design, but with statewide charities benefiting from the fee usually associated with such programs. Now let me ask you: If given a choice between a plate that isn’t necessary and is costing the taxpayers nearly $4 bucks a pop, and a process that would allow those inclined in the state to affirm their trust in God while benefiting some social program in Indiana, which do you think they would choose? This was a perfectly legitimate opportunity to raise money for some worthy cause, and instead, it will instead go down as just another example of politicians who were happy to privilege an act of political pandering over the good of the people.
Shocking, eh? And it’s not like Indiana is rolling in the fucking dough. It isn’t – and it’s bleeding thousands of jobs every month (one of the state Democrats’ main reasons for opposing the anti-gay marriage legislation) in no small part because the state infrastructure stinks.
Another of my fellow Hoosiers, Midget Queen, comments:
[M]y home county barely even has pavement on the main highways, and half the county roads are impassable in the spring unless you have 4-wheel drive. Psh. What do the godbags intend to drive on once that money’s been milked away?
Up in my neck of our craptacular state, one of the things they can drive on is the toll road our shithead of a governor and Bush’s former budget director, Mitch “The Blade” Daniels, tried to lease to a foreign company for 75 years at the bargain basement price of $3.85 billion. Or they could drive on my street, which is so riddled with potholes that traveling it feels like riding a jackhammer, even though many of the houses along it saw a 50% increase in their property taxes a year and a half ago. And we just got a notice they’re being increased by another 15%.
But hey – I couldn’t be happier to pay it knowing it will go to subsidize other people’s state-sanctioned expressions of their faith.
By the way, Support Our Troops license plates are $20.
Shakesville 
Why isn’t there a “bashing my head against the wall” icon with all of these new bells & whistles? I guess I’ll have to stick with this one:
, since I’ll need about forty of them after reading that.
I hate Mitch
I thought you were Chicagoan… Oh you tricky midwesterners.
Is there no cost absorbed by the state for the other alternative plates that have a charge associated with them? It is unclear in the sources sited. If infact the entire fee goes to the charities or funds listed for the other plates then the difference with this plate is they are not asking you to donate to religious fund or charity.
I thought you were Chicagoan…
I’m in NW Indiana, which is suburban Chicago. It’s really kind of a weird no-wo/man’s-land, because all of our television stations are the Chicago affiliates, and hence our news is Chicago news. I know more about what’s going on in Illinois than in Indiana.
Also, NW Indiana is very blue, whereas the rest of the state is very (very, very, very) red.
And you might be remembering that I lived in Chicago for a decade, too.
I like my Environmental plate, even though it is now on a pick-up truck
Is there no cost absorbed by the state for the other alternative plates that have a charge associated with them?
No.
If infact the entire fee goes to the charities or funds listed for the other plates then the difference with this plate is they are not asking you to donate to religious fund or charity.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. Other “statement” plates don’t cost the state anything. This one does. Ergo, every taxpaying resident of the state is subsidizing the cost of people who choose the IGWT plate.
That’s just disgusting!
The good news is …a lot of those Hoosier Cars sporting the god plate in the rear have a lovely green and white “Ditch Mitch” tag on the front.
…and now too, those boy wonders at IN BMV are dumping the decades old numbering system we have grown to love …(you can tell which county that SUV is from by the beginning digits on the tag) unless the owner has opted for one of the 50+ “special plates” available in this goofy state …. or of course the “truck tags” you can afix to your SUV and get taxed a bit differently….
btw: the “Ditch Mitch” tags may be available at your local BMV, or most certainly at your local “republican headquarters”
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. Other “statement” plates don’t cost the state anything.
I’m saying that if the entire fee goes to the organizations or funds cited as the beneficiaries of the fee that it cannot be true that they cost the state nothing.
I would be willing to bet that the cost of a plate is the cost of a plate; if you are replacing your existing plate, it costs the state somewhere around $3.69 each, regardless of content.
The question is does the fee, for the statement plates with a fee associated, recover any of that cost or is the entire fee going to the cited beneficiaries.
If the fee goes entirely to the beneficiaries, then there is no difference in the tax payer cost for the godplates and non-godplates.
That’s pure godlessness
…every taxpaying resident of the state is subsidizing the cost of people who choose the IGWT plate …
Sounds like a job for Indiana ACLU …..state sanctioned religious expression …
…every taxpaying resident of the state is subsidizing the cost of people who choose the IGWT plate …
Sounds like a job for Indiana ACLU …..state sanctioned religious expression …
I’m saying that if the entire fee goes to the organizations or funds cited as the beneficiaries of the fee that it cannot be true that they cost the state nothing.
You’re missing the point, which I made in the post, that the fee for any other statement plate is additional. They do not cost the state anything.
And, in my case, for example, because I pay money for environmental plates which goes to support the Indiana Land Trust, the state itself is the beneficiary of the up-fee I pay.
Sayeth the Skydaddy:
Psalm 58:10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked who reject His license plates. And it shall be done, on Earth as it is in Cleveland.
You’re missing the point, which I made in the post, that the fee for any other statement plate is additional. They do not cost the state anything.
Basic accounting is the point, not the fact that you are charged for one and not the other.
1. How is the fee distributed? What is the break down of the distribution of the fees for those plates with fees?
2. How is the cost paid for those plates? The state does enjoy free manufacture and distribution of those plates with fees associated.
3. Total up the state column where the amount of the fee distributed back to the state coffers (currently undeterminable by references cite) is subtracted from the cost of manufacture and distribution to arrive at the taxpayer burden for the plate.
4. Compare to $3.69 tax payer burden for godplates.
cor: 2. How is the cost paid for those plates? The state does not enjoy free manufacture and distribution of those plates with fees associated.
The issue of cost seems less important to me than the use of the plates to impose conformity and identify ‘the other.’ Does anyone doubt that in ‘very, very red’ Indiana those who decline the IGWT plates become suspect, if not targets of harrassment?
As for cost, IF the IGWT plates cost the exact same to make as the ‘normal’ plates, and the state charges the same price for both, then there is no ‘lost’ revenue. The amount collected for the state is same either way. However, if the IGWT plates cost more to make, then the state is losing the difference on each plate, and is financially subsidizing an expression of religious belief. That should be enough to beat them in court, if it is the case.
Hey, guys, remember? Blue Gal has been there, done that. Paul picked up that post, too.
I guess the one distinction of living in Alabama is, we’re first in out-Jesus-ing everybody.
Blog against theocracy this weekend. Thanks for the early post, Shakes.
That Terre Haute article is completely unclear about the cost to the state of the IGWT plates. It could be saying either:
(1) The IGWT plates cost $3.69 more to make per plate than the regular plates cost to make, OR
(2) The IGWT plates cost a total of $3.69 to make and doesn’t say at all what a regular plate costs to make.
If (1), then it is illegal support of religious speech by the state. If (2), we must know what a regular plate costs to make before we can say anything about the loss (or gain) to the state from the IGWT plates. [They could theoretically cost less to make than standard plates, though I doubt it.]
4. Compare to $3.69 tax payer burden for godplates.
Mac, you’re being obtuse. The reason this story is even in the frigging papers is because it is costing the state money that the other plates aren’t. The money needed to cover the cost is coming out of the Indiana Highway Fund. None of the other plates are being subsidized by that fund. Period.
Here is the original story from which the information for the linked story was taken. It explains: “The ‘In God We Trust’ plate doesn’t carry an extra fee — not even the processing fee the BMV usually receives when it issues the other speciality plates. In fact, BMV is absorbing the $3.69 cost of producing each plate. The money comes out of the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund, Cook said. It’s the same fund which pays for the state police and helps fund road repairs at the local, county and state level.”
Hence, the irritation.
Also, another interesting tidbit: “It is also the only game in town for the driver who wants a new license plate this year, instead of a renewal sticker for the old plate.”
In that case, we have situation (1) above, and any 3rd year law student should be able to strike this down in court.
Which, of course, will not help said law student and his client when the good ‘Christian’ folk come and kill them for their lack of love and charity. But that is a lament for a different post.
In that case, we have situation (1) above, and any 3rd year law student should be able to strike this down in court.
Which, of course, will not help said law student and his client when the good ‘Christian’ folk come and kill them for their lack of love and charity. But that is a lament for a different post.
Uggh. The only game in town?
This reminds me of buying stamps in Maine in November years ago – the guy at the post office offered me a Santa Claus design, I think it was. When I politely asked if he had any other designs, he got offended. I think he offered an American flag design as an alternative, but insisted those were the only two they had.
So, wait, if I moved to Indiana today my only choice would be a plate extolling (Christian) religion? If so, that’s a huge problem. Not because of any belief I may hold (and I decline to say), but because, well, I doubt I have to explain that here. ::looks up antipodean immigration policy again::
Well, if Jesus was driving around in an Escalade, I’m sure HE’D have one of those.
Well, if Jesus was driving around in an Escalade, I’m sure HE’D have one of those.
And if He got it personalized it’d say TRUSTME.
Erin:
There are actually more than 75 different license plates offered in Indiana.
From the BMV Website:
* Group fees determined by the organization sponsoring the license plate;
Administrative fee of $15, except “Support Our Troops,” Pearl Harbor Survivor and Ex-Prisoner of War plates;
* Registration charges determined by the year and make of the vehicle and the customer’s county of residence.
For the regular IN plate as well as the IGWT plate, you pay a vehicle fee, a county wheel tax (if applicable) and an excise tax. If you want a specialized plate, you pay the above, plus an administrative fee and a fee collected for the group represented on the plate.
Ah, yes… the modern-day Pharisees, once again placing their faith on conspicuous display.
Also, NW Indiana is very blue, whereas the rest of the state is very (very, very, very) red.
There are also a few tiny islands of blue elsewhere. Thankfully.
Melissa, as if this weren’t crap enough… I’ve now had more than one friend tell me that the Evansville BMV offices are acting like the “God” plate is NOT an alternate plate. They’re not openly offering the standard plate at all. Can you say illegal much?
There are also a few tiny islands of blue elsewhere. Thankfully.
Bloomington?
There are also a few tiny islands of blue elsewhere. Thankfully.
Certainly not Evansville. I lived there for two years. Ugh.
if the IGWT plates cost more to make, then the state is losing the difference on each plate, and is financially subsidizing an expression of religious belief
Agreed! The state has no business recovering the cost of non-godplates and then not recovering the cost of godplates.
However the accounting is missing from any references to say this conclusively.
I just called the Indianna Veterans Affairs office and they get the ENTIRE $20 for the support our troops plates.
This strongly suggests there is no state subsidy for the godplates, as that $20 is not used to recover any of the plate cost. You then are left with the state receiving the same registration fees for both sets of plates.
If you look into the accounting of the state procurement of the various plates, you will likely find to cost to the state is the same, or within cents, anyway, for the all of the plates regardless of the plate content.
That Terre Haute article is completely unclear about the cost to the state of the IGWT plates. It could be saying either:
(1) The IGWT plates cost $3.69 more to make per plate than the regular plates cost to make, OR
(2) The IGWT plates cost a total of $3.69 to make and doesn’t say at all what a regular plate costs to make.
nightshift66 – you get the point.
Apparently you are as obstuse as I!
Why can’t someone sue to have these plates either removed from service or have a fee associated with them that will go into the public coffers? How was this able to get past the smell test?
This is disgusting, but so not surprising.
Of course here in the land of the crimson collared, our completely power-tripping, egomaniacal waste of human flesh Gov. (p)Rick Perry just steals the money designated from the sale of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department plates (meant to fund the needs of an overtaxed department) to hang onto for himself so he can brag to the sycophantic media in Lone Star State that his BUDGET IS BALANCED!
Man, I hate that dude.
Sorry for the digression.
Yeah, I about flipped when I saw those plates and have become increasingly enraged ever since. I’ll stick with my lame waves of grain or whatever the hell it is plate until I can afford the expense of the environmental plate on my car.
Melissa: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve explained in detail that NWI is part of Chicagoland. Seems so many, esp. Chicagoans, think we just want to be part of the cool crowd or something. Little do they know, Indy and South Bend don’t claim those of us in The Region. Nor would I want them to. I prefer to not be constantly confused about what the hell time it is. And neither city’s music scene even remotely compares to Chicago’s.
On the flipside, I’m slightly thrilled to learn I live and work just a hop, skip, and a jump away from one of my favorite bloggers. It’s the little things, as they say.
I just blogged on that too, here:
Indiana’s New License Plate
The idea came from Eric Miller’s Advance America
And Miller has been using his group to pad his own pockets, click his name.
I just blogged on that too, here:
Indiana’s New License Plate
The idea came from Eric Miller’s Advance America
And Miller has been using his group to pad his own pockets, click his name.
I’m in Fort Wayne, and the IGWT tag was presented to me in this way: “Do you want the new tag, or just the sticker for the old tag?” When I inquired as to what the new tag looked like, she pulled out IGWT. I raised an eyebrow and asked if she was sure that was the right one, or was that a specialty plate…and she assured me it was the replacement for the current tag, all at no charge to the customer.
I said no thank you and took the sticker.
I’m in Fort Wayne, and the IGWT tag was presented to me in this way: “Do you want the new tag, or just the sticker for the old tag?” When I inquired as to what the new tag looked like, she pulled out IGWT. I raised an eyebrow and asked if she was sure that was the right one, or was that a specialty plate…and she assured me it was the replacement for the current tag, all at no charge to the customer.
I said no thank you and took the sticker.