" Driver REsponsibility Fund"

Whatever happened to the lawmakers who were going to "repeal " this insane tax?

They are taking luxury vacations in Oahu with our money.

for real... I was just talking about this the other day.

This debacle has dramatically increased the amount of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on our MI roads. This is supposed to raise a lot of money for the state but it is an unfair tax on the LEAST able to pay.

2003 Senate Bill 509 (Impose "driver responsibility fees" )

Public Act 165 of 2003

Introduced by (Republican) Sen. Jud Gilbert on May 21, 2003, to assess an annual $100 driver responsibility fee (or "bad driver fee") on individuals who accumulate seven or more points on their driving record within a two-year period. For each additional point above this amount an additional fee of $50 would be assessed. Higher fees would be assessed for certain very serious driving infractions, such as manslaughter, drunk driving, or fleeing police. In addition, a motorist who fails to produce his or her proof of insurance form when requested by a police officer would be assessed $300. The proposed fees would go to the state general fund, and are expected to generate approximately $70 million a year.

Let's see, wasn't the State House controlled by Republicans in 2003? Or am I wrong about that? And they call Democrats tax and spenders. They had it all pre-figured out how much money would be raised by this punitive tax.

Just to add; The fact that they had gone into records and looked at the history of these kinds of incidents and calculated the amount these finds would add to the general fund signifies this was meant as a means for revenue gains and not as an attempt to reduce these types of vehicle infractions. Ergo an added tax.

Sorry, didn't mean for there to be a double post.

not a golfer wrote:

This debacle has dramatically increased the amount of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on our MI roads. This is supposed to raise a lot of money for the state but it is an unfair tax on the LEAST able to pay.

Are poor people worse at driving than other people??

Kind of condescending don't you think?

michael g wrote:

<quoted text>
Are poor people worse at driving than other people??
Kind of condescending don't you think?

No, they're not worse drivers, but they are not as ab;e to pay these excessive fines. If the fines are not paid then their drivers license gets suspended. It turns into a huge mess because once the drivers license is suspended they need to pay all of their fines and fees, then they need to pay a "responsibilty fee" to get their license reinstated. Since lower income people do not have that extra money laying around, yet they still need to get to jobs, the groceryt store, etc. they drive on their suspended license. If they are caught doing that they get deeper and deeper in the hole.