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NY GOP: New License Plates Are A “Stealth Tax”

Nick Langworthy, chairman of the Republican Party in New York.
Karen DeWitt
Nick Langworthy

The head of the state’s Republican Party says there’s no need to require New Yorkers to buy new license plates beginning in 2020 if their current plates are still readable and in good condition.

Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has begun a contest to allow New Yorkers to choose among five different designs for new license plates to be issued beginning next year.  While the public can decide how the license plates look, they don’t have a say in whether they can keep their old plates. Beginning next April, anyone with the older blue and white license plates will have to turn them in and pay an additional $25 to $45 fee for a new one, when their registration comes up for renewal. 

New York’s GOP chair Nick Langworthy says that’s unnecessary. 

“It’s another stealth tax, it’s another cash grab,” Langworthy said. “It’s standard operating procedure in Albany.”  

State Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan, in a statement, called it part of “death by a thousand cuts” policy that includes a plastic bag ban and possible fee on paper bags at the grocery store.  

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of public radio stations in New York state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.
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