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Plates Should I.D. Vehicles, Nothing Else

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2007

No one denies that trees are cool. But must we say so on a Florida license plate?

Next fall the "Trees Are Cool" specialty license plate will join an ever-increasing number of causes displayed on Florida vehicles. The Florida Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture feels the Sunshine State's trees were maligned after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, and that too many Floridians are "cutting down trees now unnecessarily."

But a message about trees - and any other political or charitable cause - doesn't belong on a Florida license plate.

The trees plate will be the state's 108th specialty tag, and more are sure to come. What started in 1987 as a tribute to the lost crew of the space shuttle Challenger has gotten out of hand.

The Legislature should put the brakes on specialty plates. The state has no business in the charity-clearinghouse business. If people are passionate about a cause, it will not suffer just because it cannot be advertised on the back of cars.

Specialty tags cost $25 extra, and in 2006 they raised $32 million for many noble causes. If lawmakers feel the state should remain in the fundraising business, perhaps the $25 could be used for a tag for the front of vehicles, where political statements like "Choose Life" belong.

Then license plates could return to their original purpose: identifying vehicle registration.

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