Stripping the Gears of White Supremacy: A Call to Abate Reliance on Court Fines & Fees and Revitalize State and Local Taxation

In recent decades, states and municipalities have increasingly relied on court fines and fees to overcome budget shortfalls. Existing court debt literature underscores the varied and adverse impacts of court debt, as well as the disproportionate incidence of such debt on people of color and poor people of all races. Yet few pieces of scholarship directly link increased imposition of court fines and fees to decreased dependence on traditional progressive taxes. This essay aims to fill the gap. Using the law and political economy (LPE) framework, this paper argues that increased imposition of court debt derives from heightened antitax sentiment and the erosion of the state and local tax bases. In the process, this essay contends that both the tax and court debt systems reflect and exacerbate racial inequality. In advancing the above argument, this essay makes three broad conceptual claims. First, by revisiting the history of tax revolts, and underscoring that these movements precipitated increased reliance on court fines and fees, it demonstrates that antitax sentiment reflects racial, not merely economic, anxieties. Second, the essay establishes that court debt is an inferior revenue source as compared to traditional taxes when evaluated using either traditional tax policy metrics or racial justice principles. Third, drawing from existing tax literature, this essay argues for several policy and community-based interventions to cease reliance on court debt and revitalize progressive taxes. As such, this essay provides a conceptual framework for advancing the LPE movement’s mission.