Governments Refuse To Address Their Own ‘Junk Fees’

The Biden administration and others in official Washington have made a lot of noise and promises about ending so-called “junk fees.”

You know, the fees companies charge you for being late on a payment, for added services (some of which used to be “free”), and the other nickel-and-dime items that make just about everything a little more expensive and much more annoying.

But as the Cato Institute's Nicholas Anthony writes, Biden and others who promise to use the power of the state to exorcize junk fees from our lives are suspiciously silent about one of the largest users and abusers of junk fees—the government itself.

Anthony provides a list of 101 fees federal, state, and local governments charge for various things, from “late mulch storage permits” to higher premiums for late enrollment in Medicare Part A.

Governments, it seems, are masters at charging fees, penalties, and assorted extras for just about everything they do.

And while we're at it, let's not forget the “convenience fee” for paying utility or local tax bills with credit cards. Governments charge you for the third-party vendors they have contracted to handle online payments.

That's not very convenient for residents, but it's highly convenient for local politicians, who get to shift the overhead costs of handling payments to outside companies—and hand you the bill for it.

When Anthony tried to bring government junk fees to light in a congressional hearing, he got pushback from at least one Democratic member:

Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) got defensive, trying to differentiate between actual junk fees and sensible government charges (see video at 1:06:45). He said:

There is no exact legal definition, but a junk fee is a fee you are unaware of and don't expect until you are done with the transaction. When you're at the airport and you learn that you will have to pay to have even one bag on the plane, that's a junk fee. In contrast, I think if you park in a no-parking zone or you don't pay the IRS on time, you expect a fee.

“Sensible government charges” are in the eye of the beholder. Yes, getting a ticket for parking in a clearly marked “no parking” zone is reasonable. And only the willfully ignorant won't grasp that paying your taxes late – or not at all – will result in fines, fees, and perhaps much worse.

As for the rest of the fees, fines, licenses, permits, dispensations, and punishments governments impose…not a few of those sure look and act like junk.