FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Re: Bluebird License Plates

[John Devereux Joslin <jdjoslin@xxxxxxxxx>]

    I know many of you are tired of the Bluebird license plate
discussion.
    But I believe most of the issues have been cleared up now through
the help
of some thorough investigators.  Thanks to Barbara Finney and Ken Hale!
    Wallace (Monday 8 pm email) has raised a couple of questions that I
believe
can now be addressed rather succinctly from their information. 
Hopefully this
will put the matter to rest (though I doubt it!).

Wallace Coffey wrote:

> (1)  If it is a "tax" set by the legislature then that most likey means the
> 20% increase on the Bluebird tag now goes to the state general fund to be
> used for something other than "nongame, watchable widlife" !!  We were
> already paying a tax to the state on that tag.

Actually, of the $35 we pay for the bluebird tags, $31 goes to nongame
wildlife
(see the first Barbara Finney email [Imboden@xxxxxxx on Monday, noon]). 
The
remainder apparently does NOT go to the "general fund" but rather the
other $4
supposedly goes to pay for "the expense the state has incurred in
designing and
manufacturing such plates" (see Ken Hale email of Monday).  So of the
20%
increase ($10), almost all (about $9) apparently does go to nongame
wildlife. (I
think we were already paying $3 to the state out of the original $25 fee
for the
bluebird.)

> (2)  The regular Tennessee auto tags did not have an increase.  My goodness!
> You can get the regular Tennessee auto tag for $25.00 in most Tennessee
> counties.

I agree with Wallace that this is strange.  Certainly, the increase of
$10
cannot therefore be called a tax in the ordinary sense, in my opinion. 
Only those supporting their particular cause--in this case, non-game
wildlife--are required (though it is a voluntary choice to buy the
bluebird tag) to make a 20% larger donation by this means, whether they
want to or not.  Meanwhile those buying regular tags
experience no increase.  Not an ordinary tax at all.  More like an
inflexible request for larger charitable donations.

Dev Joslin
Oak Ridge, TN


=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================