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New car fees will drive us nuts -- or to Oregon If Gov. Gray Davis' budget passes, the warranty expires on the all- important automotive portion of the California Dream. Davis wants to increase the already staggering state sales tax and triple the vehicle license fee. It was convertible weather in San Francisco Thursday morning, and a gorgeous metallic turquoise Thunderbird sparkled in the middle of the showroom of S&C Ford. There were no customers to appreciate it because of the bad economy. The bad times could get worse. Ray Siotto, president of San Francisco's S&C Ford, ran the numbers. The sales tax on the $40,000 T-bird is already $3,404 for San Francisco residents, who are forced to pay 8.5 cents on every dollar. If Davis gets his way, it will go up to 9 cents per dollar, and the T-bird would cost exactly $200 more. The T-bird's license and registration is $306, and you're looking at $800 if the vehicle license fee is raised to its statutory and unpopular 2 percent. That's a total of an extra thousand Davis wants to add to the cost of fun in the California sun. Never mind the sales tax on margaritas, sushi, sunblock, bikinis and Beach Boys CDs. Where's that recall petition?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Siotto put it diplomatically: "With all the brainpower in Sacramento, why can't they do something besides attack the automobile industry that produces a great portion of California's wealth?" Across the showroom was a Ford Focus, a stylish little car that gets good gas mileage and costs only $13,425. The governor's budget proposal would add $250 to the $1,300 in taxes and fees young workers already have to pay on this basic set of wheels they'll need to drive to Oregon for tax-free shopping. The governor's budget not only punishes the poor by inflating the sales tax, but it seems to be built on two contradictory notions deeply lodged in the California psyche: First, that shopping and cars are sinful and can be taxed to hell. Second, that debt isn't sinful and the hell with it. So while the governor applies for new credit cards to cover the deficit, he'll run up citizens' debt on cars and shopping -- to make up for a mess caused by politicians who get car allowances. Let them walk to and from Sacramento, and then maybe they'll learn how to live in California without cars. Not that we want to live without our cars. We talk a good game when it comes to mass transit and bicycling to work, but we don't walk the talk. We drive. How else would you expect young people to get their mountain bikes to the mountains?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the governor can save what's left of California's once-great education systems, that will be terrific. But ask yourself honestly the point of education. It's to get a good job, live a satisfying life and drive a car above your means. Try driving a battered '91 Honda CRX into a Lexus dealer -- Lexus of Marin, to be exact. Then ask the salesman the vehicle license fee on a $62,000 Lexus retractable-hardtop convertible. The guy didn't know. The sales manager, Ron Towle, didn't know, either. "It's programmed into the computer," Towle said. Apparently, no one had ever asked before. There you have it. The Ford man had the numbers at his fingertips, but if you have to ask what the tax and fees are, you can't afford a Lexus.
Bryan Kemnitzer is the proud owner of a new Lexus convertible, and when I asked him what his vehicle license
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