Implications of the Reliance on Fines and Fees

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one of the most pernicious effects of the artificial creation of fiscal scarcity through tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) – the use of law enforcement as revenue generation. The use of policing to generate government revenue, first through civil asset forfeiture and then through traffic fines, court fees and other criminal justice fines and fees, as well as municipal ordinance infractions, has reinforced this low-tax, small government tax bargain. And, though the modalities of its implementation have been updated over time, this narrow tax bargain continues to be premised on the exclusion of racially and economically marginalized communities. Non-tax revenues raised through traffic citations and fines for minor infractions tend to fall disproportionately on people of color. In effect, these measures allow politicians and taxpayers to keep taxes low while singling out a marginalized class of people to help pay for essential services that are normally considered public goods.