Court Fees,,,

[disneykid52]

What is the name of your state? FL
Whats with court fees anyways?? What are they for?

[Hey There]

4-27-08

Although Court costs aren't referred to as a tax they are for all practical purposes a tax paid by the driver who pleads or is found guilty of a traffic violation.

The costs (or a part of them) of maintaining a court building ,new court facilities and other exspenses are shifted from useing funds collected from other tax sources such as property taxes to drivers who plead or are found guilty of a traffic violation.

As posted on this forum assessments added onto traffic ticket fines in CA. are about 270% x the fine itself... #8314 (Post Reply #2)
In Ca.money from penalty assessments goes to a peace officer's training fund, a correction training fund, jail construction and courthouse construction funds in each county according to a book on fighting traffic tickets in Ca.

I found one site that referred to an increase in court costs paid by traffic violations as increasing the amount availble for building court facilities in Florida.I found a fine schedule and added court costs for traffic violations but from your reference to court costs it appears you already know what those are.

Unfortunately court costs and assessments can be increased periodically.
In my opinion they never should have been added to traffic ticket fines and should be removed.

Keep us posted on this
Best regards,
Hey There

[disneykid52]

Sooooooo,,,how were these all paid for before these "fees" came into play year ago????

[racer72]

Originally Posted by Hey There

Although Court costs aren't referred to as a tax they are for all practical purposes a tax paid by the driver who pleads or is found guilty of a traffic violation.

Not really. The definition of a tax in an involuntary funds or fees paid to a government. By contesting a ticket, one is voluntarily paying the court fee. In fact, by charging the court fee, everyone else is paying less in taxes or taxes don't need to be raised.

Originally Posted by disneykid52

Sooooooo,,,how were these all paid for before these "fees" came into play year ago????

Taxpayers.

[disneykid52]

So taxpayers money doesn't go to pay ANYTHING at all in the town anymore WHAT SO EVER??? INCLUDING the courthouse building???? I find that VERY hard to believe....

[racer72]

In today's world, lots of folks are tired of paying taxes to support others. One way to help offset this is to charge folks for certains services. When someone chooses to fight a traffic ticket, they are choosing to do so. Why should these people not pay for this service? There are many other services provided by the courts and folks have paid these costs for many years. Filing a civil lawsuit is one example.

Taxpayers are still paying for the courthouse. It provides many other services that do not include fees. I personally pay about $25,000 a year in federal, state and local taxes per year. That is money out of my pocket. Why should I pay the court costs because voluntarily chooses to fight a traffic ticket? I opinion is that person needs to pay the fees themself.

[Hey There]

4-28-08

disneykid52

Fees to cover aPart of the costs of the courts etc.are charged to the driver in addition to his fine.
Obviously courts, police depts, etc. have other sources of tax revenue.Money collected from fees tacked on to fines doesn't necessarily mean a reduction in taxes,only that the agencies that receive the money have more money to spend.
It is obvious that more revenue (Read Tax) can be generated in states that make a court appearance mandatory for more traffic citations and /or include the fees in the bail because drivers who contest their traffic ticket in court is a small group indeed.
This is not a new thing although I haven't researched when these fees were put in place in Florida or elsewhere.
I think these fees should be abolished BUT
there is no getting around paying these fees on top of the fine unless a driver contests his ticket and wins.
I hope this answers your question about court costs.

Best Regards,
Hey There