Georgia now charging for Ham Radio License Tags

I received the following from Eugene C. Clark, W4AYK, Section Manager, Georgia, regarding the new "Fees" imposed by the state of Georgia on their Ham Radio Operators.

Many of you have asked me about this, and about what we can do. In a
word, we have been quietly and secretly “had” by our state
legislators and governor, and at this point there is nothing we can do.
This was done by the legislature quickly before any of the public could
know anything about it. Remember this during the next elections. The
word from our ASM for Legislative Affairs Jim Altman, W4UCK is as
follows:
“They attached user fees to everything in sight. Anything that had a
fee attached, the fee was raised. Anything 'fee-able' that didn't have
a fee, got one. A different example: there was an act passed called
the "Judicial Operations Funding Act." It doubles all the filing fees
for civil cases, they increased the "copy cost" for records on appeal
to $10.00 per page (which can be hundreds, even thousands of pages).
NOT ONE DIME of any of these "user fees" goes to fund the operation
paying the fee, it ALL goes to the general fund. Annual corporate
registration fees went form $30.00 to $50.00. This was not, I REPEAT
NOT a tax increase. See HB1055

Nothing has changed about the existence or ability to obtain our
plates.

The code section providing for our plate 40-2-75 has been repealed
along with many others and replaced by the provisions of 40-2-86.1

Our plates fall into a category of non-revenue sharing special plates.
'Non-revenue sharing" means a plate that is not on behalf of some
organization that gets a cut of the proceeds of the sale of the plates.
We will now pay $25.00 for the manufacture of the plate, a special
license plate fee (annual) of $35.00. All the money raised goes to the
general fund. So do the volunteer firefighters. (HB 1055 section
1-77)

There is absolutely nothing the Governor or anyone else can do about
this now. The Governor can not "repeal" nor revise a single word of the
law. The only thing that can be done is to elect a legislature that
will have the honesty and courage to call a tax increase what it is, a
tax increase, and to do so in a straight forward manner, like, raise
taxes, instead hiding behind this sort of stuff. This was all done in
less than an hour on the 36th day of the session.”


Jim Altman
jaltman@altlaw.com

So my recommendation is that Georgia hams vote with our feet: Boycott
the Amateur Radio License tags until the fees are dropped. That way
they don’t get our money and perhaps they get our message. And above
all, vote all of them out next election.
Eugene C. Clark, W4AYK, Section Manager, Georgia

73,
Rex
W5EAK

 

Are talking about a vanity vehicle license plate? Since I do not live in Georgia, I am unsure.

 

Yes, these are vanity plates.

 

Why shouldn't someone pay for a vanity plate? Nobody is forcing anybody in Georgia to have a plate with a callsign on it.

 

I seriously doubt that boycotting the purchase of ham license plates will have any effect upon the monetary fluidity of the state of Georgia.
You worked hard for the right to display that tag.
It is one you earned and didn't just pick out of a list somewhere.
If you want it, buy it.
Hell, with what you have invested in radio equipment, the cost of a tag is pretty small.

Proudly displaying a N.C. amateur radio vanity tag.

 

I live in Georgia and I see no reason why I should not pay at least $25 for a special plate to be manufactured for my use. I think the $35 renewal fee is too much, but I absolutely think I should pay all the costs of having a callsign plate custom manufactured and the special handling to get it to me.

 

California plates are $21 a year ON TOP of high auto registration fee already imposed. GA isn't in the boat alone. But i think the point here is not the cost of the plates but rather the method used to increase the cost. What's next? Raise the GA state income tax levels without telling anyone until Jan 1st when its due? We expect California costs to go up. The state is broke and keep cutting services daily while allowing more and more illegal immigrants to take up residence here with nary a word against it.

 

I live in Georgia and my county flat-out refused to allow me to have a ham license plate. Went to my tag office with the proper form and my FCC license and everything and they told me they had no clue what I was talking about.

So I got a regular plate and never bother to waste my time again trying to get a ham tag. The Fulton county government could not find it's own butt with both hands, a mirror, and plastic-man's neck.

Those who do get these plates should pay for them, in my opinion, because the state is spending some special effort to get the thing made instead of just issuing a plate out of the pile. There are costs involved there.

If the state does not charge for it, then the implication is that ALL taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the cost of making the ham plates, and I don't think THAT is any more fair than any other government plan that forces everyone to pay for stuff whether they use it or not. Fine if you are a ham. You get a freebie. But everybody else is supposed to just pay? How is this OK and other pork politics plans are not OK?

Either pork is bad or it's not. There is no middle ground.

The user fees are not a tax. They're a fee for using something, meaning you are paying your own way at least in theory. That's the way it ought to be, in my opinion.

Anyway, nobody is forcing anyone to get one of these plates. Options? Get $2 worth of stick-on letters from Home Depot and put your call on your vehicle that way. Many hams already do that. It's budget friendly.

Or get a novelty plate made and put that on the front of your vehicle. Or get a call sign bumper sticker.

Ultimately both the vehicle and radio will still work the same even if you don't have your call sign on your plate. A ham plate is not a better ground plane than a regular plate.

 

vanity is not free

Kalifornia charges $21 for callsign tag but they charge for Purple Heart, Fire Fighters and everything except Metal of Honor tag. I think most States charge for any vanity tag.

 

Amateur License Plate Fees Are Not Unreasonable

Sorry to hear the GA guys are gonna have to ante-up more $$ for their tags, but it's not unreasonable.

We, as Amateurs, have no more reason to get "free" license plates than any other motor vehicle tags. Someone has to take the effort to take the blank, input the information, make the plate, then either ship it to the recipient or to the specific bureau that's going to issue it.

Here in Tennessee Amateur calls are put on "Emergency" tags with the assumption that we would be available in an emergency to provide emergency communications from our cars and trucks. The reality is that most Hams don't have that capability and/or have no intention of being available in an emergency. As a real emergency responder, I disagree with the practice, but c'est le vie.

But nonetheless, we still have to pay a minimum $24/year fee for them, more in some other counties. If you want to display your call on your tag, pay for it. T'aint a big deal.

73

Steve, K4YZ

 

First of all Georgia Ham plates are not vanity plates. In GA you cannot get a vanity plate with an amateur radio call sign on it.

The orginal purpose of the GA Ham plates was so law enforcement and other public service organizations could easily identify Amateurs who were responding to an emergency or disaster.

The plates never have been "free". We still paid state and local ad valorem taxes on our vehicles, which can be pretty steep depending on the year, make and model of the vehicle. The only thing that was waived was the "tag fee". Usually $5-$15 depending on the vehicle. No registration fees were waived either.

This new legislation not only affects Amateurs but other groups such as volunteer fireman and possibly veterans.

The "rub" is that the state legislature in their quest for the almighty dollar choose to slip this in without comment or public input. (Just as they did last year in removing a portion of our property exemptions.)

As already stated, the plates are available for those who want them. Its not the cost that's the issue but the underhanded manner in which this came to pass. As for me I won't be buying a new plate or paying an annual fee and by the way, I won't be responding to anything either!!

73, Vic - K4VIC

 

I started a thread about the same thing about a week ago when I got my Info in the mail.


I know I might hang up my tag and get a Reg. tag.



Whats Wrong with this Picture is it was $0.00 For the tag and to got to $55.00 a Year More is a Big Jump in one year.

That is Like Wal-Mart start charging From $0 to $55.00 a Year for a pass.

 

Passing on the ham vanity plates is not a bad idea. You get 90% fewer TVI complaints once you take the amateur radio tags off your car.

 

2nd thoughts about callsign plates

I always wanted callsign plates for my car, but, now with web-enabled cellphones and callsign lookup apps for Android and i-Phones, any fool in the Wal-Mart parking lot can not only see that I'm not home, but can get my address also.

 

Bad fiscal planning and a bad economy have very little to do with immigration.