In California, $100 = $490!

[nimdabew]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/27/all-about-money-motorists-plagued-by-sky-high-calif-traffic-ticket-fines/

You couldn't pay me enough to move there. I am glad all the folks that live there and like the state enjoy it, but damn. I got a ticket in Arizona once for not having proof of insurance. It was a $1090 ticket IIRC. I had insurance so I went into the courst house, they photo copied the insurance card with its start and end dates and the ticket was dropped with the front desk lady.


After driving without a seat belt and no front plate, he got a $25 traffic ticket that jumped to $300 with assessments and surcharges. Unable to pay in full, the ticket rose to $600, and then $819 when he missed a court date.

The state automatically took his driver's license and turned the ticket over to a collections agency. Police later impounded his car when he drove to work on a suspended license. Unable to make a living, Campbell ended up broke and homeless.

"It was $4,000 for two citations," Campbell said, standing on a street corner in West Los Angeles. "And once the ticket went to collections, the judge said there's nothing he could do. It just snowballed. At a certain point, there's just no way to get back on your feet."

[Eurodriver]

Understand why people are upset, but it's hard to feel sorry for people that miss a court date.

[HKGuns]

I was in SF on business earlier in the year and I was utterly shocked at the BS, sky high taxes on the hotel bills in that city. I don't have all of the details any more, but the thoughts that crossed my mind at the time were this place is going to end like Greece. All those taxes being raised for what? To feed all the FSA beggars in the streets of Utopia?

I won't be going back.

ETA: A grand for no proof of insurance? -That is highway robbery as well.

[26 Inf]

I was in SF on business earlier in the year and I was utterly shocked at the BS, sky high taxes on the hotel bills in that city. I don't have all of the details any more, but the thoughts that crossed my mind at the time were this place is going to end like Greece. All those taxes being raised for what? To feed all the FSA beggars in the streets of Utopia?

I won't be going back.

ETA: A grand for no proof of insurance? -That is highway robbery as well.

And on the other end of the spectrum - our gov and legislature decided to see if Laffer was correct. Let's see over 300,000 'businesses' in a state with a population of under 3 million totally exempt from state income taxes. Who could see a downside?

Worked great for a couple of my bud's who work out of their homes doing taxes and accounting, as well as for the guy that mows lawns with his 'off-the-books' illegal labor, not so well for the state coffers though. There are several states that have no state income tax, I'm in favor of that, but they didn't just decide 'hey let's do this' when the economy was in the dumper to begin with.

So now smokers get nabbed with a new 50 cents a pack tax, which makes a lot of sense considering about 1/3 of our population lives right on the Kansas/Missouri border, bet they won't figure out how to buy cartons in Missouri and drive back, huh? In addition, our sales tax goes up .35%, the highway gets plundered, money from the state to local govs gets slashed AND these guys pass legislation saying the local govs can't increase taxes to make up the difference. Well they can raise the mill levy, but they can't spend it.

Yep, gonna attract new business, I know if I'm Joe multi-national corporation I'm going to move my business to a state where there is fixing to be a moratorium on road building, the schools aren't funded, and their bonds are getting ready to get downgraded for the second time.

Go, Sam! You just have to believe, with all your heart!

[nimdabew]

Understand why people are upset, but it's hard to feel sorry for people that miss a court date.

I would be on board with this line of thinking, but a $100 ticket turns into $290 right away because of course fees and whatnot.

About the no insurance ticket, yeah it is highway robbery too, but if it were in Cali, I would still have been stuck with the processing and courts fees even if the ticket were dismissed. It was more of a contrast thing than anything.

ETA: from the article


That’s because a typical $100 ticket – say, driving without proof of insurance -- jumps to $290 with state penalties; to $416 with court construction assessments; and to $490 with surcharges for emergency medicine and DNA collection. If you fail to pay the full fine immediately, it adds a $325 penalty, making the cost $815.

That's before any late fees or missed court dates.