Ask The Best And Brightest: Crash Tax?
The NY Times reports on a growing phenomenon: the crash tax. Though ambulance fees have long been born by those who use their services, Police, Fire Departments and other first responders in 26 states are reportedly charging users for their services, and they’re generating quite a bit of debate in the process. In one instance, Mr Cary Feldman of Chicago Heights was in an accident that he didn’t cause, did not use any emergency services, and was still billed $200 for the dispatch of a fire engine to the scene of his wreck. The AAA’s take on such fees
Generally, we see that public safety services are a core government function that should be properly budgeted for with general taxes and not addressed by fees after the fact
On the other hand, charging those who cause accidents for emergency response costs helps keep taxes lower for safe drivers and provides an incentive against reckless driving. So are fees worth the occasional misapplication, or are they an unfair tax on victims?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I don't like it and I feel more reason to believe in working towards being a more fair and balanced person.
Providing emergency services is the cost of a democracy. This is a nickel and dime exercise and it ought to be slapped about the face and neck.
"We already pay for it," is perhaps the best argument (made above, many times). But another point I'd like to add is that often these services "over-respond"... I've seen minor accidents with six or seven police cars sitting around. There is a sickly old man a few blocks away who has a serious medical emergency every 10 or 12 days, and they send three fire engines to his place, every time. We all know there isn't a fire, and he certainly isn't headed to the hospital in a ladder truck. Like so many other areas of life, I don't trust the government to get this right.
Charging the people for causing accidents will encourage more hit and runs. Someone posted that there is a tax crunch due to house values dropping. Here in the People's Republic of Illinois, my property taxes keep going up despite losing more than one third of the value! The governor wants to double our state income tax, all the while giving raises to his staff during a recession!