Optimizing Bureaucracy

I think I've mentioned that I've been driving my current vehicle for over fifteen years.  That was the last time I bought a vehicle from another individual.

A couple of days ago, I traveled three hours to see a vehicle I had found online.  I liked it, and the seller and I agreed on a price ... so I bought it.  We read the back of the title, filled in all the blanks, and he gave it to me with the keys.

Today, I went to the motor vehicle department to pay the taxes and apply for a new title.  There I discovered that there was information at the top of the title which I hadn't read.  There is another form which has to be filled out.  It contains basically the same information on the title itself ... with an added section where the sales price is recorded.  But I cannot register the vehicle without this form being completed.  And the seller lives three hours away.

I read an article a couple of years ago about the rules changing on how tax is collected on a motor vehicle sale.  Apparently, the state realized that most people report a lower-than-actual sales price when it comes time to pay tax.  This form is supposed to help combat that.  It is no longer a matter of verbally telling the clerk what was paid.  Instead, both the buyer and seller have to sign a document where they state the price of the sale.

And so it is that cheaters cause increased bureaucracy.  That is true in most things, I suppose.  If everyone followed the rules, we could all enjoy significantly less time and expense involved in red tape.  A lot of our tax money goes to pay people whose primary task it is to enforce the rules – knowing that a large number of people will violate the rules if there is no enforcement.

Rule utilitarians suggest that we should find the optimal set of moral rules.  The "optimal" set of rules must take into consideration the likelihood of people actually accepting and following these rules, of course; the cost of enforcement has to be considered in determining whether a better set of rules exists.

When I look at real-world bureaucracy, I wonder whether that goal is achievable.  After all, as the adage goes, rules are made to be broken.  In order to have a greater likelihood of adherence, the standards have to be lowered; the higher the standards are raised, to greater the cost of enforcement.  I'm not at all sure where the happy medium is to be found in such a situation.