OPINION: Fee increases will affect gov’t supply and demand

Probably not too many.

Yes, if you’re trying to raise revenue, you can always increase your prices. Businesses do it all the time. Of course, they have to be really careful with that, because they have to weigh the effect of the price increase on supply and demand.

That’s the market. But what about government? Does it operate outside of market forces? Can it jack up rates on its services and expect the same flow of work, of consumer interest?

Naturally, when you get into the court system, for instance, your consumer options are pretty limited. You play by the rules that are set, or you try to avoid getting in at all. If you have to take out a warrant on someone for writing you a bad check, you have to pay the fee that is set for filing that warrant. If that fee goes up, you must then consider whether it’s worth it to pursue the case.

No doubt, the state government is reeling. And legislators are desperate. They’ve looked for every possible way to raise money without “raising taxes.” So, they passed a bill this past session jacking up costs on everything from pesticide licensing fees to the costs of filing for divorce to making copies in court offices. If you turn your pillow to the cool side, there is now a $10 service fee from the state. But a massive fee increase on a vast array of services is ultimately a “tax increase.” It’s just politically easier to issue such a bloodletting through a thousand paper cuts than pulling out the sword.

I firmly believe that the reckless gambling on Wall Street for over a decade is the why we’re in such a fix. Yes, a great greed and recklessness has been evident at many layers of our society. But what we witnessed on Wall Street was a systemic Bernie Madoff scheme, a great collection of wealth based on fancy fabrications that led to vast fortune for some but undermined basic commerce for the masses.

So now what? Well, that’s the great political fight. But when you’re hit upside the head with a baseball bat, it’s hard to see straight. And I don’t quite buy anyone’s explanation of the right financial path without a heavy spoonful of skepticism. Fact is, you raise an easy solution, then you open the door to just as many legitimate questions.

But that doesn’t change the fact that our governments are in a bind in trying to provide basic services. And the options are few.

So, our state tried what seemed easiest this go around — a tax increase dressed with the sweeter syrup of “fee increases.” But how will this work in the long run? Will the money really be there? Will people back off what they’re doing?

For instance, it used to cost $1.50 to transmit a page from Superior Court to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Now it’s going to cost you $10 a pop.

Think you’ll file that case now? Or, will you turn away, just a little bit more bitter?

Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal.