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John Lobert is a legislative and regulatory affairs lawyer. His firm, Lobert Legislative & Regulatory Consulting, provides public policy advice and planning to both the insurance and reinsurance industries.

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In an era of shrinking coffers, government seldom thinks like business: trim expenses. It seems that every government “service” is essential. So it should come as no surprise that the answer is to increase revenues by raising tax rates or instituting additional taxes, a luxury that businesses do not have.

One such coffer-fattening effort is the crash tax. That’s the fee that police, fire, and emergency first-responders are starting to charge everywhere when there’s a motor vehicle accident. Wait, you say. I thought that’s what taxes are for! Silly taxpayer. If you can tax for it once, why not tax for it again? As had been said before, just change “Serve and Protect” to “Serve and Collect.”

If you’re just now hearing about these, here’s where they come from: an entrepreneur in Ohio. The sales pitch to local governments is this: All you have to do is to hand a bill to someone in an accident, and we’ll do the rest. Don’t feel guilty about it because insurance companies, not the accident victims, will pay. We’ll bill the insurance company for you.

The only problem is that these charges aren’t covered claims. So, when the innocent taxpayer/victim is turned down, he or she is now angry with the agent and the insurance company. The next thing you know, we’re being blamed for wrongly denying claims. What the crash tax companies haven’t bothered to tell officials is if the insurer doesn’t pay, they then will dun the victim.

In some communities where citizens have voiced their extreme displeasure to the town council or county commission, the quick-thinking elected and appointed officials declare that they are only payable if an insurance company pays them. Others have imposed them only on out-of-towners, I’m certain to the chagrin of the local tourist bureau.

These charges are unconscionable, in my humble opinion. Are you outraged, too? Take a look at http://www.accidenttax.com. If you’ve been whacked with one of these ghoulish charges, tell your story online. Oh, and tell your local officials to collect just one tax for these services, thank you very much.