Haverhill City Councilor Robert Scatamacchia is once again pushing to find and fine local residents who license their cars in New Hampshire to avoid not only the excise tax, but the Massachusetts requirement to insure the vehicle.
It's a problem not just in Haverhill but across the Merrimack Valley.
Scatamacchia, who proposed last year that the city hire a private detective firm to track scofflaws, made a similar pitch to his colleagues Tuesday night. It was sent to committee, which means if anything happens, it will be a while.
His cause is a good one — while ducking Massachusetts excise tax does not make the felony list, it is one of those in-your-face violations that frustrates law-abiding citizens and corrodes any sense of community.
Those who are paying their taxes are reminded daily that they really don't need to. If their neighbor can get away with it, why should they bother being honest?
But Scatamacchia is putting the pressure in the wrong place. This problem is not something the council, the mayor or the Police Department can fix. The only hope of fixing it is at the state level. The Legislature must make it simpler to hold scofflaws accountable. Right now, it is far too costly and far too complicated.
Police Chief Robert DeNaro has noted that while he has two officers and a detective assigned to investigate reported illegal registrations, judges require surveillance of a vehicle for at least 30 days. If the car is not parked in Haverhill on even one or two days, the count has to start over.
So, if councilors want to get what revenue there is from license scofflaws, which would include splitting a $500 fine with the state, the place to start is on Beacon Hill. If the 30-day rule was reduced, that would make it much easier to confirm an illegal license.
Most people who register their cars illegally know how to play the game. They use an address of a relative in New Hampshire or a post office box. They keep their car out of town for a couple of days a month.
The law ought to be changed to require those with New Hampshire plates to prove that they live there, with documentation like voter registration, their driver's license, property tax or utility bills. The burden should be on the scofflaw, not on the government.
DeNaro told councilors last year that there is not that much money to be collected, since most of the cars illegally registered out of state are at least five years old and valued at $1,000 to $5,000, which yields tax bills of only $25 to $100.
Still, a law that is not enforced simply encourages others to break it. The Legislature should give communities the tools they need to enforce the law.
