Ticket Surcharges Not Being Paid

In 2003, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Driver Responsibility Law. This law tacked on a state surcharge to many tickets, including Driving Without Insurance, DUI and repeat citations. The surcharge added fees ranging from $100 to more than $2000.

Since the law was passed, over 1.1 million Texas drivers have been assessed the state surcharge. Only 30% of the assessed fees have been paid to date. The Department of Public Safety has collected only $288 million of the assessed $886 million. Some 775,000 drivers have either ignored or been unable to pay the extra fees.

This was just a bad law to begin with. It amounts to a tax on those who plead or have been found guilty of misdemeanor offenses. It imposes a second penalty on the misdemeanors in addition to what a judge or jury imposes. Even if it is legal to impose this second penalty, it is certainly poor social policy.

This new tax is very regressive, and hits the poor and working classes much harder than anyone else. Texas already raises much of it's income through a very regressive tax -- the sales tax. To impose another regressive tax gives the appearance that Texas is punishing the poor, while giving the rich and corporations tax breaks and cuts.

If we need more tax revenues, why are we cutting taxes for the rich? If we don't need new tax revenue, then this unneccessary law is just creating more problems for our already overburdened courts and jails. It has the effect of clogging our courts with many cases that could have been pled out. Why would someone plead guilty, if it could result in a huge state fee in addition to the court imposed fine?

At the present time, many of our county jails are already overcrowded. Do we really want to further fill these jails with poor people who cannot afford the additional state surcharge? Are these the people we need to lock up, or should we be saving our valuable jail space for those guilty of real crimes?

This was a bad law when it was passed, and with our worsening economy and stagnant wages, it is an even worse law now. It needs to be repealed.