THERE'S A BUMPY RIDE AHEAD FOR MOTORISTS DAVIS IGNORES POSSIBLE SAVINGS WHILE PLANNING TO INCREASE CAR TAX.

Byline: TOM McCLINTOCK 

FOR the last three years, automobile renewal notices have included a conspicuous red message on every envelope: ``Your car tax cut enclosed.''

Sacramento's politicians wanted to be sure that voters couldn't possibly miss the fact they had reduced California's crushing car tax during a period when state revenues were exploding.

In fact, two years ago, Gov. Gray Davis insisted on putting motorists through the ridiculous drill of paying twice what they owed in order to get a rebate check back from the government for the difference.

As the governor explained in a rare moment of candor, ``People don't appreciate the fact that they're getting a rebate unless they see it in their hands.''

What now amounts to a two-thirds reduction of a family's annual DMV bill - although welcome relief for motorists - barely dented state revenues, which increased $15 billion between 1998 and 2001.

Nevertheless, the mere notion of a tax reduction is anathema to the spending lobby, and the successful car tax cut has stuck in its craw ever since.

Thus, when the state's revenues began to fall off after a three-year bacchanalia, the first tax that Davis turned to was the car tax.

And it's a good bet your next DMV renewal won't include a bold red message from the governor: ``Your car tax increase enclosed.''

According to Gov. Davis, it's not really a tax increase anyway. He is merely restoring the tax to the level it was at after his first year in office.

Of course, if he would only restore state spending to the level it was at after his first year in office, California would have a $7.3 billion surplus this year - and the budget would still be 15 percent bigger than Pete Wilson's last year in office.

At the same time that Gov. Davis is more than doubling motorists' car taxes, he is shifting more than $1 billion from earmarked highway funds to general spending.

Ironically, the more highway users pay, the less money goes to their highways.

But don't worry about that either. According to the governor's Web site, ``Road building and expansion are widely recognized as ineffectual in the battle against traffic congestion. Increasing road capacity only encourages more driving.''

The governor insists that he has no alternative. After increasing general fund spending from $58 billion when he took office to a revised $79 billion proposed for next year, he can't possibly find anything else to cut.

Critics can snipe all they want, he says, but until they come up with a better idea, he'll stick with his budget.

Fair enough.

Here are three modest proposals:

--First, conform welfare eligibility standards to the federal Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Most other states already operate under these guidelines and California's lenient welfare laws cost state taxpayers more than $1 billion a year.

--Second, stop funding vacant staff positions. California spends an estimated $525 million annually for vacancies that the bureaucracies simply use as gigantic slush funds.

--Third, get back the $95 million lost in the Oracle computer scandal. Last year, Davis bought more computer software licenses from a major campaign contributor than the state has employees, despite the fact that 122 of 127 state agencies had no use for the licenses to begin with.

Those three adjustments alone would save $1.6 billion - enough to avoid any increase in the car tax with $400 million left over.

But such simple reforms - and many others like them - would require confronting the spending lobby, upon which the governor has built the state's last remaining growth industry: the Davis Re-election Committee.

Motorists had better buckle-up - its going to be a bumpy ride.