Rick Perry's Texas Department of Transportation -- known as "the most arrogant state agency in the history of the state of Texas" -- is in charge of the TxTag program. The toll roads they've set up in places like north Austin have come under scrutiny because, often times, a driver will be charged with driving somewhere they never went, or sent a fine that was never due to them in the first place.
Now, those and other drivers who owe money to TxDot could be facing exorbitant fees 40-times higher than what the IRS charges for late payments. From a KXAN-TV story last week, "Alarming fees for overdue tolls":
The state of Texas is charging motorists a 4000 percent administrative fee for each toll they don’t pay after 112 days. Some motorists – even those with the proper tags – are finding themselves with thousands in fees for just a few bucks in overdue tolls.
In Central Texas, there are 150,000 motorists who owe $3 million in tolls. With that fee, the state of Texas could collect nearly $60 million from them.
As a matter of comparison, there's federal legislation right now in Washington to crack down on unscrupulous credit card companies who charge interest and fees around 30 percent.
