It is no wonder the citizens hate the government

Here are a few facts to consider:

The Tea Act which led to the "Boston Tea Party" imposed a tax of 3% on tea. This was one of the catalysts for the American Revolution.

The Stamp Act imposed fees for government documents

For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any affidavit, common bail, or appearance, interrogatory, deposition, rule, order or warrant of any court, or any dedimus potestatem, capias subpoena, summons, compulsory citation, commission, recognizance, or any other writ, process, or mandate, issuing out of, or returnable into, any court, or any office belonging thereto, or any other proceeding therein whatsoever, or any copy thereof, or of any record not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations (except warrants relating to criminal matters, and proceedings thereon, or relating thereto), a stamp duty of one shilling

This was one of the most hated and unjust Acts of Parliament and helped fuel the beginnings of the Revolution.

I want to state at the beginning of this post that I screwed up, all the things I am about to bitch about are MY FAULT. I don't want to see that obvious fact bandied about in the comments. Mea fucking culpa, OK?

I forgot to renew the plates on my daughter's car. Brain fart, old age, I just spaced it. She was pulled over and TICKETED. I think that this is Mickey Mouse horseshit, but she (I) broke the law. In my mind this is one of those issues like a busted headlight, etc., you should have x many days to fix the problem. This should not be a traffic ticket item. The policeman gave her a ticket, threatened to have the car impounded, gave her hard time, was a dick about it. In the end, I will pay the fine, I made the mistake, even if I think it is ridiculous.

I went to pay the fine today --$106.50. Here is a breakdown of the charges:

Court Cost $70.00
{State Court 49.00
County Court 18.90
City Court 2.10}
Law enforcement fee $3.00
Jury Fee $2.00
Hwy Work Zone $0.50
Auto record fee $7.00
Doc storage fee $2.00
Public Def. Fee $3.00
Judicial Insurance $1.00
Judicial Salary Fee $15.00
DNA Sample Proc Fee $1.00
Court Admin Fee $2.00
Total $106.50

As you can see for driving on expired plates I was charged $106.50 in fees and costs, BUT NO FINE. I paid for city, county and state court costs, but how can it be all three? I should be charged in the State, or the county, or the city, but why should I pay for all three? There was no jury why should I pay jury fees? Why is there a highway work zone fee? The "offense" did not take place in a work zone. A charge to keep a record and to store it? Is there a difference? The "record" is stored on a computer. There was not a lawyer or public defender involved, why do I pay that fee? They raise the judges' insurance, so I get to pay for that as well?

Some lawyers want to be judges. They do not make as much as their ambulance chasing buddies so they demand a raise. Charge an extra $15 on every ticket. Why do I have top pay to process a DNA sample that was never taken, never asked for and certainly not needed?

In the end, I do not have a problem paying the court cost (one of them), the law enforcement fee (although I am double charged since I already paid the officer from my taxes), and the court administration fee. I would not even mind paying a small fine ($15 is probably appropriate, although the BMV charged $5.00 already).

The end result was I was ripped off by fees and hidden taxes to the tune of $80.00. Our forefathers started a Revolution because they thought the Government was sucking money from them at the outrageous rate of 6 cents for creating a court document and 3% tax on tea. I forget to go get my equivalent of the "Stamp" and the state and local governments charge my 106 bucks! The Federal, State, and Local Governments are stealing almost half of our hard earned dollars every year. Still they complain they need more. How long are we going to take it?