I can see it now; an ad for Hooters right next to your license tab. Yep, Illinois is so hard up for money that it’s considering selling ads on state license plates.
The idea is to offer special corporate-sponsored plates. Drivers would get a discount on the price, and businesses would put their logos on the plates. It’s not a done deal though, the secretary of state is studying the pros and cons of corporate plates.
Texas already allows corporate plates. What do you think? A good way to bring in more revenue without raising taxes or too distracting to drivers?
Washington already has college plates so corporate plates seem like a good idea, but how much will the state get? Will it be worth the money they get? Will the money go down in a recession when the state needs more money?
In Texas where they're doing it, they've only brought in about $50,000 a year. Sure it's $50,000 more than they had before but, unfortunately, where state government is concerned, that's just a drop in the bucket. It might cost more in admin fees to make it happen than the whole thing would be worth. And yes, the money could be affected by recessions but it might be in a good way, as drivers may be MORE willing to have an ad on their plate when times are tough and they're hurting for money, since the plates with ads on them are cheaper than the normal ones.