New Michigan Fees & Laws

[abubamsry]

[b]New Fees Surprise Michigan Motorists[b]

Last summer, with little fanfare and even less citizen involvement, the legislators in Lansing took dead aim at drivers and car owners as a major source of new state revenue.

Vehicle registration fees were increased and a new system of late fees was instituted that will surely ensnare thousands of unsuspecting Michigan residents. Placed into effect on October 1st, the new registration fee system is just now attracting the ire of persons saddled with new fines and fees. However, the worst is yet to come.

James Baxter, President of the National Motorists Association (NMA), and an outspoken critic of using traffic laws and traffic enforcement for revenue generation, argues that the new fines, surcharges, and penalties will create an endless circle of negative unintended consequences. "Assessing ridiculously high fines for victimless and minor traffic violations and then tacking on multiyear surcharges that can reach into the thousands of dollars will result in tens of thousands of license suspensions. Even greater numbers of people will not be able to obtain affordable auto insurance. Because most of these people need to drive to stay employed and take care of daily responsibilities, they will continue to drive without licenses and without insurance. Is this the outcome the legislature intended?"

Baxter points out, "Two of the new fees are blatantly unconstitutional, awarding revenue to the state General Fund that the Michigan Constitution dedicates to other purposes. The General Fund now gets $2.25 of each car registration, opening the state to lawsuits from each city, village, county road commission and transit agency that is being shortchanged. And the Constitution requires that state fines go to county libraries, not the General Fund, but the librarians haven't been heard from yet."

"Neither have judges, who must now weigh whether a person can pay surtaxes of $300 to $2,000, when assessing fines and costs of only a few hundred dollars. Michigan is reforming its mandatory-sentencing laws, so it is disheartening to see the legislature intrude again on judicial discretion."

The NMA President claims that no good will come from using law enforcement to exploit motorists in an attempt to reduce the state’s budget deficit. "When laws become so arbitrary and onerous and penalties so extreme, ordinary, normally law abiding citizens become ‘criminals.’ Serious violations like ‘attempts to elude, failure to render assistance, and hit and run’ dramatically multiply. And, while the courts may be anticipating a windfall from the new fees they would be better served by preparing for a flood of litigation."

"State legislators may think piling absurd surcharges on excessive fines for violation of arbitrary traffic laws is the politically easy route to fiscal responsibility, but they are badly mistaken. The burden of these misguided laws will be borne not just by the hapless souls who end up in the Secretary of State's debtors’ prison. There will be the millions of other Michigan motorists who will be sharing the roadways with growing numbers of unlicensed and uninsured drivers, as well as sharing the dubious distinction of challenging New Jersey residents for having the highest insurance premiums in the nation."