Most progressives would like to think of government as an equalizer of opportunity, not as a driver of inequality. But there's one respect in which state and local government policies in a growing number of jurisdictions are working to impoverish the people they should be helping: fines, fees, and tickets.
Cash-strapped local governments increasingly rely on steep fines and financial penalties to fund their operations: 48 states have upped their fines and fees since 2010. But these costs are also disproportionately falling on the people who can least afford them: the one in three Americans who live in poverty. “Tax collections dropped due to the weak economy and municipalities needed to find more sources of revenue to pay for ongoing operations,” writes the University of Minnesota's Joe Soss, who found that the use of fines has expanded dramatically since the 2007 recession.
Read Full Article »