By Vittorio Nastasi

Across the country, state and local governments use court fines and fees as a source of revenue to fund public services. Individuals may be charged fines and fees for any criminal or civil infraction, but outstanding court debts overwhelmingly stem from traffic citations. This “taxation by citation” is not only a threat to individual liberty, but can also undermine public safety and result in fiscal instability. While fines and fees are often discussed in tandem, their purposes and legal implications differ. Fines are imposed upon conviction and are primarily intended to deter and punish crimes or municipal code violations. They are usually set in statute and vary depending on the severity of an offense. Fines are appropriate and beneficial when used as an intermediate form of punishment in place of incarceration.1 However, fines are commonly used in addition to incarceration, rather than being an alternative. Fees, on the other hand, are solely intended to raise revenue. They essentially shift the costs of the justice system away from taxpayers and onto defendants. These “user fees” are imposed by state and local governments to charge individuals for the cost of their constitutional right to due process. Various court fees add to—and often exceed—the initial fine charged for an offense. Common examples of fees include court-appointed attorney fees, supervision fees, administrative fees, jury fees, and drug testing fees. When individuals are unable to pay fees in a timely manner, they can face additional “poverty fees” in the form of late fees, collection fees, and payment plan fees.2 Typically, revenue derived from fines and fees is used to fund court operations, including salary and personnel costs. However, some governments rely on courts to generate revenue for other services as well. In some cases, the revenue is earmarked for a specific purpose related to traffic safety or law enforcement. In others, it goes to a government’s general fund or to purposes wholly unrelated to the justice system. In the case of traffic tickets in Florida, most of the revenue generated stays with the local government that issued the citation. Some of the money is also distributed to the state for general revenue and a variety of state trust funds and programs, including: • Emergency Medical Services • Brain and Spinal Cord Rehabilitation • Florida Endowment for Vocational Rehabilitation • Child Welfare Training • Juvenile Justice • Foster Care Citizen Review Panel • State Criminal Justice Programs3 While funding for the state court system is constitutionally required to come from state revenues appropriated by general law, a large share of funding for the state’s clerks of courts is provided by filing fees, service charges, and court costs that are collected from individuals when they interact with the court system. Consequently, the clerks of courts in Florida get much of their revenue from traffic enforcement. There are two main problems with using fines and fees for government revenue: (1) they impose disproportionate burdens on low-income individuals and (2) they are not a stable or reliable source of revenue.

Tallahassee, FL; James Madison Institute, 2022. 6p.