[Jeff Higgins]

Several years ago our authorities conducted a registration / home address "sting" operation at a favorite campground wherein there are a couple hundred RV camp sites. They simply checked the campsite registrations against the license plates, then asked for drivers' licenses from those owners whose site registration addresses didn't match the plates on their RV's. They wound up impounding dozens of RV's, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and fines and, in some cases, simply confiscating those RV's whose owners couldn't settle up.

That said, vehicle registrations in Washington at the time were calculated as a percentage of the vehicle's value. Even a moderately expensive RV would cost several thousand dollars to license every year. It's such onerous, burdensome tax structures that drive people to do these things. If our illustrious leadership just backed off a bit, they would likely see a net increase in revenue as fewer would be enticed to cheat.