Q: Did the increased tag fees for prestige tags cause a drop in people who applied for them? At one time, Amateur Radio tags had no extra fees. I would have dropped ours, but my wife liked having a tag number that was easy to remember.
—Tom Cotton, Senoia
A: Amateur Radio specialty plates have decreased, from a high of 4,980 in fiscal year 2010 to 2,770 in 2011, according to numbers provided to Q&A on the News by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Amateur Radio plates steadily increased from 2005 to 2010, before falling drastically in 2011. Amateur Radio tag purchases were at 2,300 in fiscal year 2012, through Feb. 29. Overall, prestige tag purchases have plummeted in Georgia the past two years. From a recent high of 1,206,720 in 2009, prestige tags fell to 1,202,126 in 2010 and then to 861,953 in 2011 – a decrease of 28.3 percent. Specialty plate purchases were at 725,517 through Feb. 29, a decrease of 15.8 percent from the previous year. House Bill 1055, passed by the 2010 General Assembly, added a $35 yearly renewal fee to most of the plates and increased the yearly cost of purchasing a specialty plate in order to raise revenue for the state. "I cannot speak to the reason tag popularity went up or down," Department of Revenue spokesman Jud Seymour told Q&A on the news in an email.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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