And to further stick it to taxpayers...

DOT is asking for another $25 to register your car every year. Just to add to the insult, they jacked the prices of getting a driver's license also.

Funny how this little bit of information did not come out until after the election-

The state Department of Transportation is recommending raising the annual registration fees to $80 for cars, a 46% increase, and hikes of up to 65% for light trucks.

The department also recommends increasing the cost of driver's licenses by $10, from $24 to $34, to cover the cost of new federal requirements to make identification cards more secure.

The recommendations were due two months ago as part of the agency's budget request, but the department waited until Friday - three days after Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle was re-elected - to submit them.

Doyle said during the campaign he would support raising the car registration fee by about $10, but the DOT is asking for a $25 hike. Its recommendation would raise car fees from $55 to $80.

It is also asking to raise the fee for light trucks weighing up tor 4,500 pounds from $48.50 to $80; for light trucks that weigh 4,501 to 6,000 pounds from $61.50 to $89; and for light trucks from 6,001 pounds to 8,000 pounds from $77.50 to $112. Those are increases of 65%, 44.7% and 44.5%, respectively.

The vehicle registration fee hikes would increase state revenues by about $208 million over the next two years. The department said it needs the money to help cover critical needs, such as road maintenance, aid to local governments and rebuilding I-94 from the Illinois state line to Milwaukee.

The increase in driver license charges would raise more than $22 million over two years, about what the department says it needs to cover the new federal requirements known as REAL ID, which must be implemented by May 2008. Those requirements include using a card stock that is more difficult to counterfeit and electronically verifying Social Security numbers and birth certificates.

Licenses are good for eight years.

They are proposing this increase for road maintenance. Makes you wonder whether or not this would have happened if Jim Doyle had not raided the transportation fund of $1 BILLION.