RMV's answer to unpaid tolls amounts to debtor's prison
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The debts — for unpaid E-ZPass tolls or excise taxes paid to cities and towns — can then be outsourced to collection agencies, increasing the tally with fees and penalties.
Now, everyone should pay their tolls and the state does need to have some way to hold drivers who don't accountable. But a system that's too unforgiving can defeat its own purpose.
Advertisement
And it's ridiculous that people who actually endanger themselves or others on the roads in some ways have it easier than drivers who merely didn't pay a toll. Drivers who lose their licenses for reasons related to unsafe driving, including driving under the influence, can apply for a
Meanwhile, at least one such debtor, found by Globe reporter Laura Crimaldi,
In fact, complaints about the private collection agency charged with collecting those pay-by-plate fees are so numerous they have spurred their own
The problem isn't just a simple glitch. The Globe analysis found that between 2020 and 2024, the Registry blocked driver's license renewals on average nearly 600,000 times during the year for unpaid tolls, taxes, or fees, and blocked motor vehicle registration renewals an average of more than 120,000 times a year.
Advertisement
A growing number of Massachusetts lawmakers have signed on this year to
It would require electronic notifications — text messages or email — of any 'unpaid assessment ... not less than one week after the citation is issued, seven days before the assessment becomes due, and on the date the assessment is due.'
But it would also provide 'the right to request a noncriminal hearing to contest responsibility or request a reduction or waiver of the assessment based on financial hardship' — something that does not currently exist.
And it would also put some guardrails around those debt collection agencies that seem to have contributed to the problem.
'There is a real cycle of debt and legal entrapment,' Cyr told Crimaldi. 'We need to catch up to a number of states who have already reformed or eliminated debt-based license suspensions.'
In fact, the
It's easy to berate a state agency that remains about as popular with drivers as a root canal. And surely the addition of professional debt collectors has compounded that bad reputation. But it's up to the Legislature to fix the system — to provide an offramp for debtors whose need for a car and/or a license to drive is the key to their getting out of debt.
Recognizing the simple logic of that is to recognize its obvious solution.
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