Surcharges are just Wrong!

Turns out anger and annoyance seem to be a good way to get my writer's juices stirring again. So get ready - 'cause I'm pissed!

Have you noticed how over-charged we are all getting lately? It's cropping up more and more. I've seen surcharges on utility bills, cell phone bills, toll tags, and most recently on traffic tickets. The amounts are outrageous, I can't believe it can even be legal.

My son got a ticket when he was running late to his baseball game, so of course he got a ticket. That's fair - right? The ticket was for $260.00. Then he received a letter from the state (of Texas) saying that he also had to pay an additional $260.00 a year for the next three years! He is being penalized for being penalized. Fined for being fined. He'll end up paying $1040.00 for a $260.00 ticket.

I decided tonight to look up the word surcharge, and this is what I found: surcharge n. an additional charge of money made because it was omitted in the original calculation or as a penalty, such as for being late in making a payment.

They go on to say the surcharge is likened to the word "Falsify." I don't know when Texas stated all this surcharge business, the best I can figure is that it was about 10 years ago. I mentioned this on Facebook. I have about 2400 friends on that site and almost 500 fans, from all over the country and all over the world. No one else has seen anything like this. One guy joked that it must be true that everything is bigger in Texas. Another funny side note is that when I first Googled the word surcharge, page after page came up about Sprint and their outrageously high surcharges. Apparently there are even lawsuits over it, according to a few posts I read.

So now I'm wondering how these surcharges, and extra fees are allowable and if they are really legal? Has anyone ever challenged the ticket surcharges? Is there anything we can do to fight it? Would petitions to the Attorney General help? I just can't stand to sit by and watch so many people shell out more and more money, just because some greedy entity is hold out it's hands for more, more, more!

My son is 21, works full time and goes to college. Oh, wait. I'm sorry - he works just short of full time so that his employer doesn't have to pay him benefits. I know, and he knows that he was wrong to speed on his way to play baseball. Getting a ticket was appropriate. But the extra money for all those surcharges is just Wrong. And I've been fed up with paying all the extra fees and surcharges to so many utility bills too.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this subject. It can't just be me that is outraged by this type of ____________. Well, what is the word I'm looking for? Thievery? Extortion? Tyranny?

Drive Safely, (and slowly)

KT

* DISCLAIMER I would like to take a moment to point out that I do Love the State of Texas. I was born and raised here, and so was 5 generations of my family before me. I promise I will soon write an Ode to Texas and point out so many of our great attributes. However, just like I love my family, it doesn't mean that I am blind to their faults - or to my own for that matter. (Un-clinch AR)