Head Injury Fee

Monday, November 20, 2006

If you get a speeding ticket in the state of Massachusetts, the state levies a $50 “head injury surcharge” on top of the initial fine. If the violation occurred when the driver was driving recklessly or drunk, it’s $250.

Massachusetts set up a Head Injury Treatment Services Trust Fund to help those who have suffered brain injuries, and the fee raises over $14 million per year. So far, so good, right? Not so fast. The state pockets half the money for its general expenses—money that will never be spent to address head injuries.

Calling something a “head injury surcharge,” then using half the money on general state expenses that don’t serve people with brain injuries? Why, it’s enough to make your head spin.

Perhaps it’s not shocking that Massachusetts, a state that earlier this decade passed a law charging people $10 to be blind, would short-change the Head Injury trust fund in a fee-ble attempt to balance its budget. But to spend half the money from a head injury fee on things that have nothing to do with head injuries is too much even for Taxachusetts. Understandably, the Massachusetts Brain Injury Association is frustrated that “we're being used,” since the state is hiding a tax increase behind the good name of it and other head trauma organizations.

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