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> According to this article the DMV is making 50M

That was $50M in revenue, not profit. I blame the Vice headline; it said "makes," but in the article clarified that it's revenue.

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That's a lot of revenue

It's really not. Think about what this information is used for: It's probably pulled by your insurance whenever you take out a new policy. There's 40 million people in California. If 5% of them change insurance each year (2 million), and that report costs $25 (A reasonable filing fee for a sensitive government document), there's your $50 million right there.

For comparison, it costs $50 for a tax return from the IRS with a Form 4506-T (usually used when getting a mortgage or for other income tax verification purposes).

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