The head of the state’s Republican Party said there is 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.
Gov. 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 do not 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-$45 fee for a new one when their registration comes up for renewal.
New York’s GOP Chair Nick Langworthy said that is unnecessary.
“It’s another stealth tax, it’s another cash grab,” Langworthy said. “It’s standard operating procedure in Albany.”
In a statement, John Flanagan, the leader of the state’s minority party Republicans, called it part of a “death by a thousand cuts” policy that includes a plastic bag ban and a possible fee on paper bags at the grocery store.
