By Dan Walters
Sacramento Bee
The proximate cause of the American revolution, one might recall, was taxation without representation _ resentment that a British government 3,000 miles away could impose taxes it wanted on its colonists without recourse.
California's local governments, in their never-ending search for revenues to replace the property taxes they lost in Proposition 13 ― and, more recently, declining sales taxes ― have been emulating King George.
Local governments impose hugely disproportionate taxes on hotel rooms, rental cars and other commercial transactions that will be paid mostly by those who don't live in the city, can't vote, and/or will recoup the levies via expense accounts.
The newest ploy to soak out-of-towners is being promoted by an Indiana company called Emergency Services Billing Corp., which is telling local governments with fire departments and other emergency services that they can extract a lot of money from visitors who have accidents and need those services.
As the company's Web site puts it: ``Emergency Services Billing Corporation (ESBC) was incorporated in 2006 for the purpose of billing for paid and volunteer fire departments to recoup the expense caused by fire department dispatches to vehicular accidents."
It continues, ``ESBC's mission is to provide relief to local taxpaying citizens of your district by returning money from parties involved in vehicular accidents, which are burdening your entire tax base when your tax base is not responsible for their negligence."
The Fresno County Fire Protection District has bitten. Its board has made a tentative decision to contract with ESBC on the promise that it could receive more than a half-million dollars a year by billing those from elsewhere who are unfortunate enough to require emergency services.
Residents of the district and nearby fire protection agencies with mutual aid agreements would be exempted. ESBC would slap a 22 percent ``administrative fee" for itself on the direct costs of providing services.
Just Wednesday night, the Roseville City Council approved an ordinance imposing what it said would be ``usual, customary and reasonable" fees on non-Roseville residents involved in auto accidents. And the city of Modesto, hard hit by the housing industry meltdown, is considering a similar move.
All three communities sit astride major highways that carry tens of thousands of out-of-area motorists and truckers each day, thereby creating a big flock of birds to be plucked. And they ― or their insurers ― would be compelled to pay even if accidents were someone else's fault.
It's eerily reminiscent of the speed traps that once plagued motorists, including those in California, with ridiculously low speed limits, until state legislatures enacted anti-speed trap laws.
The insurance industry is resisting what it considers to be highway robbery. It might behoove the Legislature to step in before this new taxation without representation becomes universal.
Dan Walters can be reached at dwalters@sacbee.com. For back columns, visit Sacramento Bee (www.sacbee.com/walters). The above article was distributed by Scripps Howard News Service (www.scrippsnews.com).