The Police as Tax Collectors

Originally published on Tumblr.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my dislike of the Police. It was an odd thing to write about, especially for me. I’m generally a law-and-order person. On one level I have a huge amount of respect for people in uniform. They agree to live dangerous lives to protect civilians. Firemen, policemen, and of course soldiers are worthy of respect. At least in theory.

In practice they sometimes abuse the power we give them. Abuse by a few (e.g., Abu Graib) can tarnish the whole.

In practice they are sometimes asked to do jobs they shouldn’t be doing, jobs that diminish their uniform. Having soldiers at JFK airport after 9/11 was ridiculous. Having a largely unaccountable police force manning body scanners before allowing us to board airplanes is bizarre. Israel has a lot more to worry about in that regard, and their airport security is civilian. They understand that degrading a uniform is damaging.

And as I mentioned the other day, I find the practice of using the police to collect municipal taxes particularly galling.

This week I was fined to exceeding the speed limit in a school zone. The limit at the time was 20 mph. I was driving 27, below the speed limit when school is not in session. This was at 7 in the morning, long before any children appeared on the street, but a squad car was well hidden to catch anyone who didn’t realize that a different speed limit is in effect from 7 to 9.

Did I break the law? Absolutely. Should I pay the fine I was given? Absolutely. Should the squad car have been posted there to catch me? Absolutely not. It wasn’t there for public safety. At that hour it wasn’t there for the children. It was there because the City of Austin needs more revenue. It was there because it’s an easy place for drivers to inadvertently break the law.

After the incident I told one of my friends about it. He suggested I take it to its logical conclusion: mentally spread the fine across the year and consider it a small daily tax for the privilege of driving in Austin. I did, and it made me feel better about the incident. But thinking that way is pernicious. It’s an implicit acceptance of policemen as tax collector. This acceptance is detrimental because forgiving these little wrongs ultimately makes us blind to bigger wrongs. This article describes in some detail how the police legally confiscate money in large quantities, especially from foreigners. The described behavior blurs the line between tax collection and extortion.

There’s one more thing I want to bring up this week. Besides being given a speeding ticket, I was fined of failing to obtain a Texas driver’s license within three months of moving here. I knew that was required, and I knowingly broke that law. I’m not going to complain about it, but I do want to ask: why does it exist? Why do I need a Texas driver’s license? A license isn’t required to live in Texas, and a Texas license isn’t required to drive in Texas, but a Texas license is required to drive and live in Texas. Having a Texas license doesn’t mean that I’ve learned some Texas-specific driving techniques. When I hand in my Nevada license, I’ll be given a Texas license without taking a test. I suspect that it has to do with one of two things: control or, once again, tax collection.

A US State can’t issue ID cards, just as the Federal Government can’t. Since most adults drive, this rule creates a close proxy, just as the Social Security card acts as a close proxy at the Federal level. The rule also makes it easy to collect an extra tax, in the form of a fine.

I’m still trying to decide whether I’ll comply and get a Texas license, or risk more fines. In either case, I won’t stop arguing that the police should not be tax collectors.