The Department of Licensing is helping you

It's time to get new license plates.

We require new plates every 7 years because the reflective coating wears out. This coating helps you and law enforcement to identify vehicles in poor weather. For more information, see: RCW 46.16A.200 - License plates.

Yup.  Can't begin to count the number of times that I needed to identify a vehicle by its license plate in poor (or any other) weather.  Come on guys!  Charge us what you want, but don't try to convince us that it's to help us.  The reflective coatings are for the police and only for the police.

I'd be interested in knowing how often the police need those reflective coating anyway.  If they have you pulled over on the side of the road, it has to be easy enough to read a regular license plate, so this would only seem to be any benefit during a chase in bad weather.  How often does that happen?

Addendum: The registration fees include a "reflectivity" charge which is designated for "proper road, street, and highway uses".  WTW is a reflectivity charge?  I already paid to replace a perfectly good license plate because the reflectivity was allegedly worn out, and then each year I pay an extra $2 for something which appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with reflectivity.  Still think that government isn't too big and too powerful?