ST. LOUIS – There’s no doubt there are drivers in St. Louis County driving with expired temporary license tags.
“When I first moved back here, I was like, ‘Why is he riding around with a 2021 sticker on his plate, it’s 2023,’” Keith Ivie, resident, said.
But is it a problem? If you ask Mark Harder, St. Louis County Councilman, it is.
“One of the most common complaints I hear from constituents is about the number of cars on the road that have expired temporary tags,” Harder said in a statement. “It makes people mad that they pay those taxes and fees, but other drivers are being allowed to drive without paying.”
Harder is introducing a resolution to the county council on Friday to urge county police to crack down on expired temporary tags. Several drivers said there’s too much tax to begin with.
“A lot of people still owe property taxes and can’t get they tags,” Ivie explained.
“It’s just so hard now,” Dariana Patrick said. “Everything is expensive.”
David Scott owns a tree service business with multiple vehicles that he must pay taxes on every year.
“We pay these taxes over and over and over,” Scott said.
For Scott, there has to be another option than handing out tickets.
“I think that the laws need to be tweaked a little bit,” Scott explained.
Harder’s not the first to try and crackdown on expired temp tags. In May 2023, Ferguson started a ‘Temp Tag Tuesday’ system to hand out tickets to drivers with expired tags. Also in 2023, the mayor in St. Charles asked residents to take pictures of cars with expired temporary tags and got 1500 reports in a three-month span.
The St. Louis County Council is expected to discuss the resolution proposal Friday afternoon.
