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: Grits for Breakfast

On the limits of the justice system as tax collector

"Texas fails to collect $1 billion in fees and fines," a headline in yesterday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram read, and while unpaid college tuition makes up most of that sum, predictably Texas' "Driver Responsibility Fee" was the main criminal justice culprit:Public-safety and criminal-justice agencies assessed $884.7 million in fees but failed to collect $292.7 million in 2006-07. Of that, $290 million was left uncollected by the Texas Department of Public Safety.In 2003, a state law went into affect allowing the state to assign points and apply surcharges on drivers convicted of moving violations classified as Class C misdemeanors. Under its driver responsibility program, drivers are fined annual surcharges once they get a certain number of points during a three-year period...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 27, 2008 (boomark / email).