Study Reveals Cost Of 'Taxation By Citation' In 3 Georgia Cities

If you’ve ever been pulled over for driving three miles over the speed limit, you may have been subject to ‘taxation by citation’ — local governments enforcing rules and fees not for public safety, but to generate revenue. A recent study from the Institute for Justice, a non-profit libertarian public interest law firm, looked at taxation by citation in Georgia, highlighting the practice in Riverdale, Morrow and Clarkston. Jennifer McDonald, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Justice, joined On Second Thought to discuss how these short-term boosts to city coffers can have long-term costs to citizen morale.