'Clunker effect' felt in NH tax revenues

The Union Leader reports that the Cash for Clunkers binge has caused a spike in local car registration revenues.

In one town, a two-month increase in automobile registration fees helped to reduce a $40,000 shortfall in the auto registration line item by 25 percent. Others are swamped with new car registrations.

"I can tell you I've had to make a special trip to Concord today to pick up more registration decals, and it's the third time this month I've run out," Windham Town Clerk Nicole Miller said.

More than 5,000 new cars were purchased in New Hampshire under Cash for Clunkers, which offered rebates of $3,500 to $4,500 for trade-ins of old, gas-guzzling autos for new cars.

"We (the clerk's association) had an executive board meeting just last week, and the thing everyone was talking about was all the new car registrations we've been seeing," said Kathy Seaver, president of the New Hampshire City and Town Clerks Association.

We'll see how much auto registrations fall once the sugar buzz of Cash for Clunkers wears off.