The quiet budget strategy no one voted for
Cities claim they’re keeping order. In reality, many balance their books with ticket books. Fines, fees, and forfeitures have become a hidden tax, pulled disproportionately from the people with the least to spare. In 2022, governments collected an estimated $13.9 billion from these sources. At the state level, that’s a small change, but in certain towns, it’s the business model.
“They don’t call it a tax. They just call it a ticket.”
How the “revenue machine” works
Step 1: Ticket quotas.
Departments deny quotas, but lawsuits and leaks show otherwise. A 2023 suit in Kansas City exposed illegal quotas. In 2024, Michigan whistleblowers described “productivity metrics” that looked like quotas. Even Houston quietly dropped its daily stop requirement this spring. On paper, quotas are banned; in practice, pressure is alive.
Step 2: Stack fines and fees.
A $100 ticket often turns into $500 or more once court fees, late fees, and “failure to appear” fees pile on. Miss one deadline, and the debt snowballs, leading to license suspensions, warrants, and even jail.
Step 3: Seize property.
Civil asset forfeiture lets police take cars, cash, and property without a conviction. In 2023, the Justice Department’s fund booked $3.18 billion in revenue. And the Supreme Court’s 2024 Culley v. Marshall ruling confirmed that owners don’t get a quick hearing to get their property back.
Ferguson’s blueprint lives on
Ferguson showed us how this system works: Black residents targeted, courts turned into collection agencies, freedom tied to revenue. After the 2015 DOJ report, Missouri capped fine revenue, but elsewhere the model persists. Ferguson wasn’t an outlier; it was a blueprint.
“Freedom isn’t denied; it’s priced.”
Case studies: extraction in 2024
Brookside, Alabama. Traffic fines and forfeiture have become half the town’s budget. Public outrage forced Alabama to cap traffic fine reliance at 10% of a city’s budget.
Lexington, Mississippi. DOJ found a pattern of arrests tied to revenue motives: $1.7 million in unpaid fines in a town of 1,600.
Valley Brook, Oklahoma. Settled in 2024 after years of jailing people who were too poor to pay tickets.
Florissant, Missouri. Paid $2.9 million to residents jailed over traffic debt, proving Ferguson’s neighbors didn’t change much.
Lenox, Georgia. State probe revealed altered tickets to hide the scale of revenue. In 2022, 73% of city revenue came from traffic fines.
Quotas by another name
Quotas may be “banned,” but officers still face performance targets. When numbers drive evaluations, numbers rise, especially in poor neighborhoods. Research shows that heavier reliance on fines and fees correlates with more police killings. That’s not safety, that’s extraction with body counts.
Who pays? The same people, again and again
Chicago’s “neutral” speed cameras hit Black and Latino drivers at twice the rate of White drivers. Many ended up in bankruptcy court from ticket debt. This is how the system works: punish inability to pay.
Civil forfeiture: profit without proof
Even when states try to cut off the profit stream, local police can route seizures through federal “equitable sharing” and get a cut back. Nevada’s 2024 ruling against this loophole is rare. Nationally, the profit engine rolls on.
What real reform looks like
- End the profit motive. Redirect all fine and forfeiture revenue to neutral state funds, not police budgets.
- Outlaw quotas; for real. Ban “productivity metrics” and audit for soft quotas.
- Require convictions. No conviction, no forfeiture. Close the federal sharing loophole.
- Ability-to-pay hearings. Use sliding-scale fines, day fines, and community service alternatives.
- Hard caps and sunlight. Alabama’s 10% cap is a start. Require public dashboards on fine and forfeiture revenue.
The bigger picture
When police become tax collectors, safety dies. Communities grow poorer, angrier, and less free. The dollars hardly move city budgets, but they wreck families. This is not public safety. It’s legalized extortion.
The hard questions
- What percent of your city’s budget comes from fines and fees?
- Do officers have “goals” that function as quotas?
- How much property is seized without conviction?
- Does your court test the ability to pay before jailing people?
- What reforms, if any, were made since Ferguson?
