By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
Gov. Tim Kaine has come up with a rare fee increase that is not really a fee increase.
By proposing today in his $78 billion biennial budget that motor vehicle inspection fees increase from $16 to $20, Kaine is giving car owners a $4 fee increase.
It’s a fee increase until the other part of the recommendation is enacted to require inspections every other year instead of today’s annual inspections. Hence, the required inspection would be $20 for a car every two years instead of $32.
If a fee is a tax, then you could say that Kaine is proposing a tax increase and a tax cut at the same time. Unless, of course, the owner gets a new car every year and sells the old one. So it could be a fee increase for some and a fee cut for others.
Do you think the people who inspect vehicles are going to like this?
