The series of events that has led to District residents not having representation in Congress is a long and somewhat complicated one that will not be outlined here. However, this information is available in varying levels of detail in a wide variety of printed and electronic mediums.

Where Does Taxation Without Representation Come From?

“Taxation without representation is tyranny.” So said James Otis, often referred to as America's first Patriot, in his 1764 pamphlet The Rights of the British Colonies asserted and proved. In another passage from the document, in which he spoke adamantly on the issue of taxation and representation, Otis writes “The very act of taxing, exercised over those who are not represented, appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights; and, if continued seems to be, in effect, an entire disfranchisement of every civil right.” A prolific writer on issues of the colonies and independence, the Massachusetts lawyer, orator, pamphleteer, and public servant voiced his opposition, with fellow legislative leaders Samuel Adams and Joseph Hawley, to many Revenue Acts of the crown. In a criticism of the Sugar Act, he wrote “no parts of his Majesty's domain can be taxed without their consent.” In a letter to the Lower House of Parliament, also of 1764, he wrote “If we are not represented, we are slaves.”

Historians have referred to two of Otis's maxims, that which leads the previous paragraph and “that expenditures of public money without appropriations by the representatives of the people, were arbitrary, and therefore unconstitutional,” as laying at the foundation of the Revolutionary War. Of Otis, a critical but often overlooked figure in the fight for our nation's independence, John Adams said he had “a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity.” Otis even referred to “My country” when speaking of the colonies, the first instance of anyone conceiving of a nation separate and independent from the crown. Had he not been killed by a bolt of lightning on a farm in Andover, Mass., in 1783, his signature would likely appear on the Declaration of Independence.

So we see that although inclusion of Taxation Without Representation on a license plate is a novel idea, it is far from being a new premise or way of stating the same. Just as our forefathers fought for independence and representation more than 200 years ago, so too are residents of the nation's capital fighting for representation today.

So How Did This Slogan Wind Up On D.C. Plates?

It's an interesting story and a wonderful example of citizen empowerment. But first, a quick review of how laws are enacted in the District is in order. The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative body of the nation's capital. A Bill becomes an Act after being passed by the 13-member council. An act becomes law after a mandated period of review (30 legislative days for changes proposed to codes other than the criminal code) by the U.S. Congress. If Congress disapproves of any Act, it adopts a joint resolution of disapproval that must be signed by the president.

In addition to the creation of laws the Council also expresses its will through resolutions, which do not become permanent law. For example, ceremonial resolutions are passed to honor individuals and organizations for their contributions to the community. There are other types of resolutions, as well. Unlike bills, resolutions do not require the mayor's signature or a Congressional review. Although proposed resolutions are treated like bills, only a single vote of the Council is required for them to take effect immediately.

The story of Taxation license plates begins in March 2000 when Sarah Shapiro, a resident of the city's Foggy Bottom neighborhood, sent an e-mail message to a local radio show, “The D.C. Politics Hour,” to suggest that the legend replace the then current Celebrate & Discover. This quickly led to the License Plate Amendment Act of 2000 (Bill 13-698) being presented to the Council by its chairman, Linda W. Cropp. The bill called for an amendment to the D.C. Revenue Act of 1937 concerning motor vehicles to the effect that “Beginning on April 15, 2001, the identification tag issued pursuant to section 2(c) shall include the motto ‘Taxation Without Representation' instead of the motto ‘Celebrate and Discover'.”

Without additional documentation from the Council and a working knowledge of the legislative process in the District, we were unable to ascertain exactly what happened next. However, before long the Council issued a resolution in support of the slogan change. It appears that subsequent to bill 13-698 being submitted, a decision was made that the slogan change could be initiated through a resolution rather than an act. The seven arguments contained in the Sense of the Council in Support of New License Plate Slogan Resolution of 2000 (Public Resolution 13-849) provide an excellent summary of the issue, and are therefore reproduced here in their entirety:

1. The District of Columbia is the only national capital amongst the world's representative democracies whose residents are denied voting representation in the national legislature.
2. Although the Constitution of the United States (Article I, section 8, clause 17) authorizes the establishment of a national capital district over which "Congress shall have the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever", nothing in its terms or in the rationale offered for this provision suggests that the right to voting representation in the Congress should be withheld from those citizens who happen to reside within the boundaries of the national capital.
3. The core principle of a democracy -- that the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed -- is violated when citizens do not have voting representation in the bodies that make their laws.
4. Moreover, the fundamental Constitutional rights of one person-one vote and equal protection under the law are each violated by the District's lack of voting representation in the House and the lack of any representation in the Senate.
5. The denial of Congressional voting representation for District residents is even more heinous when coupled with the fact that Congress chooses to exercise ultimate decision-making over all local legislative and budgetary matters affecting District residents. Thus, District residents are not only locked out of their national legislature but also out of what is in a structural sense their state legislature. This shameful lack of democracy is further compounded by the transfer of certain state-like functions from the District government to the Federal government.
6. Because District residents bear all of the burdens of citizenship, including federal taxation in the amount of nearly $2 billion annually -- higher federal taxes than eight other states, and including wartime participation, District residents are entitled to full representation in Congress, the same as all other U.S. citizens.
7. Taxation without representation led the American colonies in 1776 to declare their independence from Britain. This lofty principle on which our nation was founded requires that District of Columbia residents in the year 2000 no longer be treated-as second-class citizens.

Washington mayor Anthony A. Williams publicly endorsed the Council's position on May 5, 2000. On June 12 he testified before the Council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment: “I wholeheartedly support this project because it honors the most patriotic and democratic principles of our nation. By putting ‘Taxation Without Representation' on our license plates, we stand up for our rights in a very public way, and send a strong message about our commitment to bringing full democracy to our Nation's Capital.” “Our Taxation Without Representation License Plate Project is a simple yet crucial step in our march toward achieving the democracy that we Americans hold dear. By making this statement on the standard license plate for the District, we send a clear message to our leadership in the Capitol and our fellow Americans across the country that the District of Columbia deserves the same representation afforded to America's other 50 states.”

Here Come The Plates!

It wasn't long before the District's new license plates were ready for issuance. In a widely publicized event, the DMV curtailed most of the services it customarily offers at its headquarters on Saturday and concentrated on issuing plates with the new slogan. The first motorist in line on Nov. 4, who presumably received plate no. AZ-0000 (pictured) unless it had been specially assigned prior to that day, reserved his place at the front of the line at 3:30 a.m., and others arrived within three hours in anticipation of the 9:00 a.m. opening. In its newsletter, under the headline Celebrate and Discover the new “Taxation Without Representation” License Plate , the DC Vote organization invited all supporters of the cause to gather at the C Street, N.W. office for an “early morning rally and celebration” of the new plates, and to exchange their old ones. Mayor Anthony A. Williams had declared the day “Driving Toward Democracy Day in the District of Columbia.” In his speech, he declared that the $10 plate replacement fee could not “buy a CD or a tank of gas, but it can make an impact on the nation and this city we love.” Joining him with prepared comments at the podium were Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, members of the D.C. Council, and representatives of DC Vote. All of these VIPs were to begin the ceremonies by using screwdrivers specially decorated with red-and-white bows in the colors of the District's flag to change their own plates. “Taxation without representation was tyranny hundreds of years ago, and it is tyranny today,” said Joseph Sternlieb, president of DC Vote. “The new license plates bring the message of our second-class status to the world and move us one step closer to our goal of full representation in Congress,” he added. Live music was featured and snacks provided, and among the first to receive new plates was Sarah Shapiro, who first suggested that the slogan be changed. Her personalized plates read MY IDEA. Conflicting reports put the number of motorists that purchased Taxation plates that first day at 300, 700, and 870. The lower number, provided by CNN the day after the event, initially seemed like the most accurate tally, but the 870 figure was reported in the newsletter of DC Vote in December 2000, and one would assume that by this time an accurate figure could have been calculated.

On its website, the DMV “encourages all DC residents to support DC's quest for full representation in the US Congress by purchasing and displaying Taxation without Representation license plates.” The plates were issued to motorists that purchased a new registration beginning on Monday, November 6, 2000. It is believed that new registrations were not issued on Saturday, November 4.

About the Optional WWW.Washingtondc.gov Legend

No official information about the availability of D.C. license plates without the Taxation Without Representation legend has been found, and optional license plates with WWW.Washingtondc.gov (later changed slightly to www.washingtondc.gov ) appeared without fanfare in January 2001. These plates are issued upon request (but motorists may have to ask two or three times) at no additional cost. Only a small number of them have been issued, and their availability is apparently not widely known and not evident at DMV offices. Of the website address plates, one D.C. plate collector writes that “You literally had to ‘throw a tantrum' on the crowded floor of the D.C. DMV in order to get one. Can you imagine?”

The first series of plates with the website address is the BB series of embossed plates, and the second series is the BJ series of flat plates. It is believed that 2000 BB-series plates were made, and it took about two years for them to be issued. When more website plates were needed the BJ series was introduced. Comparative close-up photos of the URL on BB- and BJ-series plates appears on our Optional Plates page.

In December 2000, shortly after the Taxation slogan was introduced and widely publicized, it was announced that President Clinton had directed that a set be affixed to the presidential limousine. The democrat's order, one of his last as president, was widely applauded in the heavily-democratic District of Columbia. “This is a symbolic and important step,” said the president of his use of the new plates. “I support the residents of the District of Columbia in the pursuit of full voting representation in Congress,” he added.

To nobody's surprise, however, Clinton's January 2001 replacement in the White House, republican George Bush, was far less enamored with the new slogan. Granting the District representation in Congress would likely shift the balance of power away from the republican party, so it was not unexpected that one of the new president's first orders was that all of the Taxation plates be removed from official vehicles. This is believed to be the reason for the creation of auto license plates with an alternative legend, the district government's Web site address.

The actual introduction date of the BB-series website plate is uncertain. However, one observer spotted number BB-0007 with JAN 02 stickers. If this, the eighth plate of the series (because each two-letter series of D.C. plates customarily begins at number 0000) was issued during January 2001 (which the JAN 02 stickers indicate), then it is a relatively safe assumption that the series was introduced during that month.

At least when they were introduced, website address plates were most often seen on high-end vehicles, as well as “big black SUVs that are obviously White House and Secret Service vehicles,” writes one D.C. plate collector, who also observed a few on D.C. Police Vehicles. They are, however, also occasionally spotted on average private cars and small trucks. We can tell that the example pictured here was used on a federal government vehicle by the continued use of plate stickers long after the validation of private car registrations began to be indicated with windshield stickers. When photographed, plate BJ-3710 had been revalidated through June 2007.

About the Change to Flat Plates

Until 2001, D.C. license plates had been made at the Lorton Correctional Complex, in suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, for decades. Operated by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, the old, overcrowded complex was required to be closed by the end of 2001 in accordance with the District's Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Without a facility to manufacture license plates, a contract was reportedly executed with 3M under which that company's relatively new digital plate technology would be used.

The first flat plates were issued in October 2001. The font initially used for Washington, D.C. on the new plates is the same as had been used on Celebrate & Discover plates issued through the end of that series (when the Taxation slogan was introduced), but it was later changed slightly, then completely, as discussed below.

No official information about the change to flat plates in D.C. has been found. However, the following data about the change from embossed to flat U.S. Government plates is included in this discussion because government plates were made at the same Lorton facility where D.C. plates were produced.

According to the General Services Administration (GSA), license plates were made for the federal government at Lorton from 1933 through 2001. (The appearance of D.C. plates is consistent from 1928 through 1934, so it is reasonable to assume that they were produced at the same facility, but their source is not known. D.C. plates for 1935, however, are distinctly different than older plates, and therefore it is likely, based upon the GSA's representation about government plates, that they were first ones made at Lorton.) According to an October 2001 GSA bulletin, Lorton “stopped taking license plate orders on June 30, 2001.” The new supplier for government plates would be Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (UNICOR), and plate orders were to have been taken beginning July 1, 2001. The GSA memo states that “Actual production of license plates at the UNICOR facility will begin on or about September 15, 2001.”

Whether UNICOR is also producing the current, flat D.C plates is unknown, but it seems reasonable to assume that it is. Flat D.C. plates were first seen in use during October 2001, which is reasonable if they were produced by UNICOR and if UNICOR did indeed begin producing flat plates during the previous month.

About the Change in Validation from Plate Stickers to a Windshield Sticker

The change from issuing plate stickers to a single windshield sticker for each vehicle in April 2002 did not come as a surprise to individuals familiar with the problem of plate and inspection sticker theft in the District. Misuse of temporary plates, both authentic and counterfeit, is also a chronic problem. In an August 1998 Washington Post article, DMV officials were said to be considering this change in order to reduce instances of unregistered vehicles being used. At the time, an estimated 500 plate stickers were being stolen from properly registered cars each month. About 246,000 cars were then registered in the nation's capital.

When the change was made, motorists that had expired stickers on their plates had the option of using reflective blue-on-white stickers bearing the legend SEE WINDOW STICKER to cover them. (Click here to see an example.) These stickers were apparently not available in April 2002 because included in a list of future initiatives in a DMV news release of June 10 is “See Window Stickers,” with a target date of July 1. Now, plates are made with the same legend printed directly in the upper corners, where stickers used to appear.

Windshield stickers used to indicate the validity of D.C. vehicle registrations are 5” wide and 3” high and are displayed in the lower left corner of the windshield. The vehicle safety and emissions sticker is placed in the lower right corner. (Click here to see examples of both; click on image at left to see enlarged view and image of sticker application instructions.) The registration sticker features the expiration date in large black numbers across the center in this format: 08/22/03. These stickers also serve as a residential parking permit, with a large number in the upper right corner to indicate the zone of the District in which the vehicle is authorized to be parked. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA is printed in blue lettering across the top, and some stickers also have TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION across the bottom. The plate number, year and make of the vehicle, and vehicle identification number are printed in small characters on three lines immediately above the expiration date.

D.C. windshield stickers are generated by the DMV's computer system, DESTINY, which was introduced during 2002. The previous system, Motor Vehicle Information System, had been in use for 30 years according to a June 2002 DMV news release, and was described as being “inefficient and antiquated” by the time it was replaced. The DESTINY system provides far more features than the system it replaced and has reportedly enhanced the DMV's customer service capabilities.

About the Change of Font for Washington D.C.

Three variations in the italic font in which the city's name is displyed on 2000 baseplates have been identified. In the photo above, example A is that which appeared on the first examples of this base. Examples B and C were probably intended to be identical, but they exhibit slight variations probably attributable to manufacturing varieties: example B is from a plate made with traditional graphic sheeting whereas C is a digital (i.e. completely flat) plate.

No specific information about the reason for the change to block letters for the city name, made at plate no. BP-1400, is known. It resulted in the District's name being more prominent, and this is probably the sole reason.

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Several interesting attributes of the D.C. motor vehicle registration system are evident in this early 2004 renewal notice. That this form relates to a Historic Motor Vehicle registration is evident in the annual registration fee, $15. (The fee for regular registrations is $72, $115, or $155 depending on the vehicle's weight.) Perhaps most relevant is the group of boxes outlined in bold in which renewal fees are provided. This is where motorists are presented with the choice of renewing for a period of one or two years, and also where a fee for participation in the District's Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program may be provided for. The expiration date of the registration for which this form was prepared is March 20, 2004, so "3/20/04" would have appeared on the window sticker affixed to the vehicle at the time. (Pertinent data such as the plate and title numbers and the registrant's name and address have been removed or altered so as to not divulge this information.)

1903-1917 Plates	1968-74 Baseplate
Jan. 1918-Dec. 1929 Plates	1974-78 ("Bicentennial") Baseplate
Jan. 1930-Feb. 1940 Plates	1978-84 ("Nation's Capital") Baseplate
Mar. 1940-Mar. 1950 Plates	1984-91 ("A Capital City") Baseplate
Apr. 1950-Mar. 1960 Plates	1991-2000 ("Celebrate & Discover") Baseplate
Apr. 1960-Mar. 1968 Plates	2000 ("Taxation Without Representation") Baseplate

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	This page last updated on January 14, 2010
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