WHAT HEELS: “You’re Not From Around Here, Are You?” Ka-Ching!
Put-upon taxpayers have a habit of voting pols out of office, so local governments have taken to gouging out-of-towners with a variety of fees and fines, The Associated Press reports:
Out-of-towners would be wise to drive carefully when passing through Fraser, a suburb about 15 miles northeast of Detroit.
The city this year began charging non-residents who cause wrecks for the public safety and emergency response time involved in the accident. …
Reluctant to raise taxes on their own residents, local governments are looking increasingly at out-of-towners. But critics complain that the fees amount to taxation without representation, or double taxation, since those people already pay for roads and public safety services in their own communities. And unsuspecting out-of-town motorists who've have faced the bills say they send a hostile message. …
But it isn't always easy for the cities to collect. Insurance trade associations say most companies won't cover the fees, leading to lower-than-expected revenues for local governments. …
Officials in Petoskey, a northern Michigan tourist town, flirted with the fee idea last year but decided against it.
"In a hospitality, tourism-oriented community, it's just not something you do to people," said Carlin Smith, president of the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce. "They've just had an unfortunate situation. You don't make it even more of a misfortune."
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