Arresting for Dollars

In the spring of this year, the Virginia General Assembly voted to impose a new set of draconian "civil fees" on top of the fines and court costs already imposed on traffic violators. The new fees began to be imposed on July 1st, and their impact is just now starting to be felt.

This is an issue which has me fairly conflicted. On the one hand, I'm appalled every day at the terrible drivers on our heavily-traveled local roads: the speeders, the red-light runners, and the fiercely aggressive drivers who tailgate and weave in and out of traffic. In one of my earliest posts in this blog, I noted somewhat morbidly that I expect to die as a result of being hit by a car at the intersection I have to cross every day, where drivers routinely fail even to slow down for the red light and are too busy watching for traffic coming from the left to watch out for pedestrians coming from the right...while they're yakking on their cell phones. On the other hand, though, I believe in fairness, and the new "civil fees" are just about as unfair as I can imagine.

Last Sunday's Washington Post ran a lengthy article about the new fees, noting that, "The fees, which range from $750 to $3,000, were passed by the General Assembly in the spring as part of a package aimed at funding scores of transportation projects. Backers said the fees would both raise money and improve highway safety by targeting the state's worst drivers--those guilty of severe traffic offenses such as DUI (driving under the influence), reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license." The article went on to profile one of the people hit by the new fees: a pregnant woman who thought she was in labor and was driving to the hospital was cited for reckless driving after being clocked at 57mph in a 35mph zone...she received a $100 fine, court costs, and a civil fee of $1,050 on top of that.

This is a pretty egregious example (who would be heartless enough to slam a pregnant woman like that?), but it is nevertheless an example of what happens when your government starts reaching for new sources of revenue. As a bit of background, you should know that we here in Virginia are subject to a so-called "Personal Property Tax" charged each year on the book value (not the actual value) of cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, some animals, and various other things. Everyone hates the Personal Property Tax (known colloquially as the "car tax"), and one of our previous governors got himself elected on the basis of a pledge to reduce, if not eliminate, the hated tax. He delivered on his promise by greatly reducing the amount of the tax...made on the assumption that Virginia's booming economy would make up for the lost revenue with income from other, less visible taxes and fees. Well, you could have predicted what would happen: the economy turned down, and the lost income from the Personal Property Tax began to be felt in things like reduced highway maintenance (can you spell "collapsing bridge"?). And now our General Assembly, desperately seeking new sources of revenue, has hit on the sure-fire idea of slamming bad drivers with new, huge fees.

I don't have a problem with fines for persons convicted of traffic violations. I have paid a few myself over the years, and view them as the cost of my own stupidity. But what the General Assembly has done is to kick the citizens while they're down by using them as cash cows. The idea that the new civil fees will improve driving behavior is ludicrous, as anyone who spends a few minutes on Virginia highways will tell you...there has been no reduction in the level of moronic driving that I've been able to see. The fees are simply an attempt by a spineless legislature to raise tax revenue without having to admit they're imposing a new tax. And to add insult to injury, the fees are imposed only on drivers who are Virginia residents - if you are from out of state and ticketed on Virginia highways, you will still pay only your fine and court costs. Is this fair?

Many judges oppose the civil fees, a petition to repeal them has so far garnered over 170,000 signatures, and there are several pending challenges to their constitutionality in the state courts (one of which recently upheld the fees). One hopes that common sense will prevail, and the courts will strike down this egregious example of government gone wild.

But this is Virginia, and I'm not holding my breath.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo