Lawmakers look for a quick buck with sponsored license plates

Gambling deals with an Indian tribe. Oil drilling rights for mysterious investors. Leasing highways to foreign corporations. Florida legislators will consider selling just about anything to raise money and avoid tax increases. So it's no wonder that hawking space on license plates is on the agenda in Tallahassee.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, proposes allowing corporations to sponsor license plates to raise cash for the state. As a sweetener, drivers who buy a corporate tag would get a discount on their annual registration fee. No word on whether only minivan owners could buy Mickey Mouse and only Hummer drivers could buy Big Oil.

Of course, Florida has been prostituting itself at least since unwitting Midwesterners were sold swamp land sight unseen for their retirement homes. And the argument about cluttering license plates with logos and messages is long lost. There are more than 100 specialty plates for every sports franchise and cause, from universities to manatees to "Choose Life.''

But putting corporate names on license plates speaks more to greed than to shared values or school spirit. With one hand taxpayers could be paying money to clean up the environment, and with the other accepting money from polluters to slap their names on license plates as though drivers endorse that behavior. Then there is the free speech issue. Open this door, and there's nothing stopping liquor companies, strip clubs and payday loan companies from signing up.

But this is Florida. Anything to make a quick buck — and avoid a tax.