Great Moments in Local Government, Part II

I am moving ever closer to being a compliant citizen of Fairfax County and the State of Virginia. As I noted in an earlier post, I am seeking to renew the registration on my car, but I failed miserably in my first trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The trip to the Fairfax County tax office was rather successful, albeit a bit puzzling. The ostensible purpose of the trip was to pay a mysterious overdue tax and then a $20 fee to remove a "hold" on my registration. But the County bureaucrat said there was no overdue tax. This made sense because I hadn't received any notices in the mail, but I can only imagine why the automated system was trying to get me to cough up $174 (I'm now thankful my efforts to comply were unsuccessful).

Yet even though there was no unpaid tax, the County still insisted on getting $20 to remove the hold. In an ideal world, I would have loudly protested this ridiculous demand. In the spirit of the Founding Fathers, I would have pointed out the absurdity of being forced to pay the remove a hold for a tax liability that did not exist. In reality, the County got its money and I'm just happy that I have (at least in theory) just one final visit to the DMV.

I never did ask, by the way, why the County thinks I have four cars. While I am a tad bit curious, discretion is the better part of valor when dealing with bureaucracy. Stay tuned.