Revenue department can't explain the math

Part of Missouri's revenue crunch might be due to just plain poor accountability, as columnist Jack Stapleton has documented in a series of columns on the Sunday Opinion pages in recent weeks.

With the signing last week by Gov. Bob Holden of authorization for more specialty license plates for Missouri motorists, another example of lackadaisical bookkeeping has come to light.

The state is supposed to collect an extra $15 a year for each specialty plate. The Department of Revenue says 26,000 of these plates currently are on vehicles. But the department reports annual revenue from the specialty-plate fee of only $240,000 a year, some $150,000 short of what it should be collecting.

When confronted by the mathematical conundrum, a department official basically said, "We don't know why the math doesn't work. All we know is how much money we have."

Enough said.