Welcome To The All-Seeing State: License Plate Readers To Help Cops Impound Cars Of Those With Unpaid Property Taxes
The problem with technology is that people tend think having it should mean using it.
As I explain in "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck," we're such tech-thrilled chimps in the face of electronic bells and whistles that our eagerness to push all the buttons bypasses our need to consider whether the particular technology serves us or, maybe, will degrade how we live (like by yanking away our privacy).
Well, welcome to Newport News, Virginia, where cops will use a license plate reader to nab and impound vehicles owned by people with unpaid property taxes. Theresa Clift writes for the Daily Press:
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia -- Delinquent taxpayers in Newport News could have their vehicles impounded if new cameras snap a photo of their license plates around town.In an attempt to claim the nearly $4 million in delinquent personal property taxes owed, the city will soon begin using license plate scanners to find vehicles on which more than $200 in personal property taxes are owed.
The cameras will be mounted to the backs of six sheriff's department cruisers to automatically read license plate numbers. Those numbers will be cross-searched with a database updated daily of all the license plates in the city with more than $200 in personal property taxes owed, Treasurer Marty Eubank said.
If a match is found, an alarm will sound, and the deputy will call the Treasurer's office to verify that the payment has not been made. If the owner is present, they can pay on the spot, Eubank said. If not, a sticker will be placed on the car telling the owner they have three business days to pay or set up a reasonable payment plan before the vehicle is towed and impounded.
The city will hold the vehicle for 30 days, sometimes longer on a case-by-case basis, before auctioning it off as "a last resort," Eubank said.
And the transition of police departments from law enforcement and public safety concerns to revenue generation continues. This will not end well.
Conan the Grammarian at March 31, 2015 7:54 AM
I've been in the unfortunate position of not having funds when needed to pay taxes and stuff, BUT I don't see where this is an invasion of privacy.
If it's due and the local government WILL set up a "reasonable payment plan" then I don't see a problem. (I personally do not think 3 days is sufficient based on my personal work schedule/locations, but ...)
If the plan is not reasonable, the fees are unreasonable, and local government is greedy then folks gotta vote.
Bob in Texas at March 31, 2015 7:58 AM
This is effectively a war on the poor. If you can't afford your property taxes then the government will remove your ability to get to your job and force your into even greater poverty or homelessness. It is counter productive at best and utterly life destroying at worst.
Matt at March 31, 2015 8:43 AM
While I don't think it's a "war on the poor" as much as poorly thought-out law-making, the poor will bear the brunt of legislation like this.
That's the same problem Ferguson had. Michael Brown was a criminal and was shot in self-defense; but the resentment and anger that had been building up over an expanding array of ever-increasing government-imposed fees, fines, and regulations that fell hard on the heads of the poor exploded with Brown's death.
Conan the Grammarian at March 31, 2015 8:53 AM
so Bob... you don't see that The Government establishing and holding a database that contains your positions accumulated over time, mightn't be a cause for concern? If that DB exists, it could certainly be incorporated into other, other databases...
if you think the idea that the food police won't eventually stop you for going to dunkin' donuts every morning, because it contravenes your government mandated health monitoring, you don't bother following logic to extreme.
I think you probably know that government itself is often beholden to the idea that a law, once enacted, must be followed to it's extreme... at least for some people. Do you want to be one?
So the idea here is that law should ONLY be as broad as required, and not one jot more.
Using a license plate scanner to find you is substantially MORE intrusive, than just putting a lien on a house that is in arrears, and selling it if forfeited.
That house can't move, and they ALWAYS know where it is.
The road to hell is paved with little steps that all seemed logical in themselves, but led you down a path you didna' want to travel.
SwissArmyD at March 31, 2015 8:58 AM
This particular problem has less to do with ALP readers and more to do with the evil that is called personal property taxes. In Florida:
The invasion of privacy comes with these questions: what is the local constabulary's data retention policy? how long is the data kept, and who has access to that data?
I'm going to guess that a) none of your business, and b) none your business, and c) also none of your business. Which means a) "we don't have policy set", b) "we'll keep it forever", c) "anyone flashing a badge, in addition to our underpaid IT workers".
The data in this case is time/date, location, your license plate #. So if you're seen outside of Mel's Diner 3 times a week, you might get a note from Obamacare that you're eating improperly. Because it'll be part of the internet of things. And your health care.
And no one ever says "should we do this?" when they realize that they can do this.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 31, 2015 9:10 AM
I wonder if the personal property taxes in question are ad valorem taxes on the car itself... that might be what motivated them to do it that way. That said, (1) yes, building this database is a terrible idea for anyone concerned with civil liberties, and (2) if it is in fact an ad valorem tax on the car itself, I'm surprised they do it that way. Every state that I know of includes whatever ad valorem taxes are levied on automobiles in the cost of registration. If your tags are current, then by definition the tax is paid.
Cousin Dave at March 31, 2015 10:52 AM
"Every state that I know of includes whatever ad valorem taxes are levied on automobiles in the cost of registration. If your tags are current, then by definition the tax is paid." via CD above
Based on memory and the article I believe it's a separate notice/bill in Virginia as opposed to here in Texas where what you state is the case. I pay or I don't play.
As far as worrying about the gov't knowing where I'm at I suggest this is a not a real problem.
The gov't will do whatever it wants, when it wants, and will not allow you to have the funds/means to defend yourself. (See gun confiscation in New Orleans, property/funds taken, IRS, ...)
It's too late to worry about them knowing that I like boudain several mornings each week.
Bob in Texas at March 31, 2015 11:26 AM
You can probably impound a car on which taxes applying to that car are unpaid.
You certainly can't sell it without some sort of due process, by which I mean more than a call to the treasurer's office. Somebody's going to have to go to court. Most of this talk is just empty chest-pounding designed to scare the taxpayers into paying.
As Cousin Dave says, I'm amazed if they do this on a basis separate from the annual registration.
I suspect that a good lawyer could easily blow holes in this entire process - where's the due process? I predict that the actual number of cars towed, impounded and sold at auction will turn out to be - nil Just the accounting headaches - if you sell the car for more than what's owed - make it not worth doing. The next town over recovered a whole $60 grand doing this? Not worth the resources spent to do it.
The valuable part is the lesson it teaches - the police are being re-purposed as tax collectors.
If I lived in VA, I'd remove my plate. My chances of being pulled over for a missing plate are infinitesimally small, and I'm sure the fine is trivial - probably a fix-it ticket. Screw them and their database state.
llater,
llamas
llamas at March 31, 2015 11:26 AM
This is VIRGINIA. We pay personal property tax, PLUS a "sticker" fee, every year for our cars.
Mind you, the stickers were phased out YEARS ago. But we still have to pay for them annually. . .
Heck, we had a guy get elected Governor on a platform of REDUCING the "Car Tax" . . .
Keith Glass at March 31, 2015 11:55 AM
"Every state that I know of includes whatever ad valorem taxes are levied on automobiles in the cost of registration. If your tags are current, then by definition the tax is paid." via CD above"
Virginia must just be stupid. This is the easy way to collect the tax.
Isab at March 31, 2015 12:36 PM
So they are impounding cars of people who are less than a few months behind in their land taxes?
lujlp at March 31, 2015 1:01 PM
When field investigators find a vehicle with a license plate for which more than $5 in property taxes is owed, they first place a warning sticker on the vehicle telling the owner to make contact with the city. If there is no response from the owner after about a week, the investigators go back and remove the license plates or put on a wheel lock,
What gives them the right to confiscate your personal property for an unrelated debt? Can they confiscate the furniture out of my house too? What if there's a lien on the title? What if I just lease? If the city owes me more than $5 can I go around putting warning stickers on city vehicles? Once the vehicle is wheel locked it will start picking up parking tickets - if I'm out of town, lots of them. Am I responsible for them? If so, why? What is their liability for my loss of income due to loss of transport?
This whole thing seems to be based on simply ignoring all existing laws, because they can.
kenmce at March 31, 2015 2:54 PM
So I've read the article several times and I'm gonna claim confusion on what property this is for... so Keith G, you are saying this is the tax for vehicle registration/license plates???
hmmm, guess I've never lived anywhere where it wasn't all charged in the same fee when you renew your plates... so I assumed "property" meant Real Property, as in real estate or a house.
Dunno, this seems an awefully stupid way to go about this. Most states just roll it all into your plate... and if you get found to have expired plates? well then it's a big deal. I believe most places, if you don't have the correct color renewal sticker, it's primary, so they CAN pull you over for just that.
If you KNOW who hasn't paid their tax, you could just go to the registered address, and impound the vehicle... and for those that faked it, or moved, you tack on additional violations, as they are wont to do.
Doing it that way doesn't encumber all law abiding citizens with state observation the way taking every license plate image down, does.
Least Restrictive. Makes you wonder why they want to do it the hard way, no?
SwissArmyD at March 31, 2015 3:04 PM
There aren't any cops anymore, just armed tax collectors. Unfortunately those armed tax collectors occasionally get into cop-like situations where they end up panicking and start throwing bullets all around.
David Crawford at March 31, 2015 5:11 PM
We, as a nation, obviously do not have enough to do.
Radwaste at April 1, 2015 2:51 PM
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