A couple of weeks ago, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias issued a news release detailing that the office rejected more than 300 vanity and personalized license plate applications in 2023 deemed too obscene or defamatory.
Every year, motorists try to avoid censors and get their racy, lewd and rude tags plated on their vehicles. More than 54,768 requests, including those spurned — such as IOWASUX — for vanity and personalized plates were received by the Secretary of State’s Office in the past year.
That should tell us something about the state of the economy in Illinois. While many gripe about high taxes in the Land of Lincoln and the Biden administration’s stewardship of the nation’s economy, Illinoisans, at least its drivers, are spending wildly on vanity plates.
For a new vanity plate with all letters, state vehicle owners pay an extra $94. For a personalized tag with a combination of letters and numbers, it’s an extra $47 fee. That’s on top of the $151 annual plate fee for passenger vehicles.
For motorists opting for one of the dozens of specialty plates offered by the state, along with adding vanity or personalized messages, the cost can add up and up. Illinoisans must have a lot of disposable income on hand to place that much movable cash on vehicles wandering the magnificent miles of Illinois.
The Secretary of State’s Office says there are 811,351 vehicles registered in Illinois with vanity or personalized license plates, out of some 4.1 million registered Illinois passenger cars. Of this number, 279,500 are vanity plates; 531,851 are personalized plates.
That suggests the state is raking in millions upon millions of dollars from those 20% of drivers who want cutesy license plates. That figure would be more if plates on the ever-growing offensive list, which totals 7,674 tag combinations, were included.
Perhaps some Illinois drivers found new license plate combinations delivered by Santa Claus last week. If not, they certainly must have received lots of presents, another sign of an uplifting economic boom.
The Associated Press said holiday sales from early November through Christmas Eve rose 3.1%, despite Americans reportedly struggling with higher prices and financial worries. Although it was lower than the 2022 Yule shopping season figure of 7.6%, economists determined holiday spending in 2023 was typically “measured and deliberate.”
Guess that means we didn’t go crazy buying all sorts of clothing, electronic gifts and added gewgaws. At the same time, we weren’t Scrooges or Grinches when it came to spending money on friends, relatives and travel.
When all the sales receipts are counted in a few weeks, the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, expects U.S. holiday sales will have risen 3% to 4%. Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity, according to the AP. Economists monitor how Americans spend, especially during the holidays, to gauge shoppers’ economic outlook.
The Federal Reserve has noted inflation is easing, which means interest rates for mortgage and car loans should wane. Stock indexes are soaring like choirs performing Handel’s Messiah as 401(k)s and IRAs are flush with gains.
Gasoline prices have dropped dramatically, allowing those with fancy license plates to drive far and wide. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits remains historically low.
Wages are rising as employers continue to have difficulty finding enough workers. Food prices remain up; packaging sizes down. Illinois motorists may want to save a bit of their showy license plate money for the dinner plate.
All the economic pluses portend a bright 2024 for those worried about financial comfort. It’s a message President Joe Biden and his reelection team need to get across to voters in the coming campaign season if he stands a chance at returning to the White House.
It’s a message that things aren’t as bad as we have been told by doomsayers and cable talking heads. Perception seems to be taking hold in Americans’ psyches from what the bad news bearers spout. Despite what the facts so far are telling us.
Kind of like those attempts at getting vanity and personalized license plates that exceed good taste. POOPSY was one of the tawdry examples of a plate request being dismissed in 2023 by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Expect more of those plate attempts in the new year. Some may even attempt to have political maxims adorn their vehicle’s tag.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
X @sellenews
