Big Surcharges in the Land of “No New Taxes”
July 13th, 2009 at 1:57 pm By Jeff Van Wychen
As reported on the StarTribune Roadguy Blog, a motorist in Roseville learned that a $25 ticket for failing to buckle-up would actually cost him $106. Thus begins another strange odyssey in the land of “no new taxes.”
A $25 ticket translates into a $106 ticket because of an $81 surcharge. Of this $81, only $6 goes to local government. The remaining $75 “goes into the state general fund.”
Governor Pawlenty and a number of other state policymakers tout their “no new tax” record. However, the commitment not to increase taxes only applies to state taxes. A recent Minnesota 2020 report demonstrated that the governor is not above shifting costs on to property taxpayers through disproportionately large cuts in state aid to local governments. (The large state aid unallotment is the most recent example of this.) Another way that the state generates dollars to fill the hole caused by declining real per capita state tax revenue is through fee increases; from FY 2003 to FY 2008, growth in state fees has exceeded the combined rate of inflation and population growth by 21 percent.
The $75 state surcharge on top of a $25 ticket is yet another manifestation of the “no new tax pledge.” In order to avoid state tax increases, the state increases fees and surcharges, which are less visible and less subject to public scrutiny. The “no new tax pledge” has less to do with fiscal restraint than with finding inventive ways of avoiding accountability for raising public revenue.
Tags: Fees, Seat Belts, Taxes
For the record Mr. Van Wychen the most recent law on the surcharge (one surcharge per vehicle) was slipped into HF878/Ch.168 in a closed door conference committee by those same liberal democrats who attempted to pass the most regressive tax increase in Minnesota history. Some of those increases were:
• Increase sales tax by .5 percent through county adoption
• Eliminate mortgage interest deduction from income taxes
• Eliminate property tax deduction from income taxes
• Eliminate education tax credit
• Eliminate long-term care insurance premium credit
• Eliminate child/dependent care tax credit
• Eliminate JOBZ economic development tax credit
• Reduce the Market Value Homestead Credit for homeowners
• Eliminate organ donation deduction from income taxes
• Eliminate charitable giving tax credit
• Imposes tax on digital downloads such as iTunes, books, etc.
• Imposes sales tax on boats, snowmobiles, and ATVs sold by an individual
• Increases taxes on cigarettes
• Increases taxes on beer, wine, and liquor
In state law, the standard surcharge for traffic violations in found in M.S. 357.021 subd 6. The disbursement of the surcharge is found in subd. 7 of the same section.
1% goes to the Game and Fish Fund for conservation officer training
39% goes to police officer training
60 % +$3 go to the General Fund and if you are in Ramsey County, you will pay an extra $1 for the law library.
You cannot pin the increase in the traffic violation surcharge on the Governor. Blame it on our democratic majority, “the friends of the middle class”
Mr. Bauhof: All the items you list were efforts to ameliorate the destructive cuts to LGA, health and human services, and everything else designed to help Minnesotans get by and/or to maintain our physical and intellectual infrastructure.
The blame for our current condition rests squarely on the shoulders of Pawlenty and his enablers.
With all due respect the tax increases proposed were made well in advance of any knowledge of potential cuts to LGA, health and human services, or any other program cuts. They were in fact proposals to balance the budget through tax increases that would impact those Minnesotans who could least afford a tax increase.
I just got one of these seat belt tickets tonight. I was under the impression they were $25.00 dollars. Upon further investigation, I learn they’re at least $100.00. I deserved a ticket, because I was breaking the law–a law of which I don’t agree with, but the law none-the-less. But $106 is ridiculous.
We’re being screwed by the state plain and simple just as Ticketmaster screws its customers with large surcharges that are used for nothing more than lining their pockets. They put a $75 surcharge on a $25 ticket? What is this Russia? The surcharges should be scaled according to the fine being paid–not three times the amount of the ticket itself.
I’m ashamed to think we have representatives in our government that voted for this tripe.