Legislation urges Cuomo to remove license plate replacement fee

In New York, we continue to see the same problems time and time again — too many taxes and fees, out migration of our residents and increased spending. From the budget in April through the end of session in June, we saw Upstate and Western New York residents feeling the burden of these spending and tax increases.

Just this past month, we saw another glaring example of this with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to select a new license plate design and require that all plates, 10 years or older, be replaced. With this new design and replacement comes a $25 fee for the new plate, $3.75 fee to have a new registration issued and on top of that, if you want to keep your same license plate number, another $20. This will do nothing but hurt Upstate and Western New York residents and add another fee to the ever-growing list. This is why I am co-sponsoring legislation in the State Senate which would require that the commissioner of the Department of Motor

Vehicles waive the $25 portion of the fee for residents forced to comply with a plate change mandate. New Yorkers should not be forced to pay for these unnecessary design changes.

This license plate proposal is just another example of the policy making that is driving New Yorkers from our state. I am hopeful that my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly will see this for what it is, another tax in disguise, and support the proposed legislation.

As I mentioned in last month’s column, affordability remains one of my top priorities. Please be assured I will continue to fight in Albany against these frivolous taxes and mandates. The residents of Western New York pay more than enough as it is.