Politics & Government

D.C. Drivers Owe the City a Staggering $85 Million: Report

AAA Mid-Atlantic reveals that more than 600,000 traffic and parking fines went unpaid last year.

Drivers owe the District of Columbia a whopping $84.8 million in unpaid parking, speed camera, red-light camera and moving violation fines, a new report from AAA Mid-Atlantic claims.

More than 600,000 tickets haven't been paid in a timely fashion, a 24 percent increase over the previous year.

D.C. makes a lot of coin off of traffic and parking tickets even with so many people not paying their fines. The AAA report found that the city issued 2,475,929 tickets for a total of $225,891,216 in fiscal 2015. That's up from the 2,150,967 citations issued the year before.

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Tax season means the District gets to collect a lot of those unpaid fines. Those who file their taxes could have the District garnish their tax refunds if they have outstanding tickets. Unfortunately for city officials, about two-thirds of those with unpaid tickets live outside of Washington, D.C.

That doesn't mean they get off. Those fines could still go on non-residents' records, which could hurt their ability to get loans or buy a home.

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