TASMANIANS owe more than $67 million in outstanding fines, or nearly $150 for every man, woman and child in the state.
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More than 10 per cent of the debt is fees associated with collecting it.
The majority – $48.1 million – is owed to the state government, while the rest is largely owed to local councils.
Last week’s estimates showed the break-up of monetary penalty enforcement orders:
■Court-imposed fines: $44.4 million
■Infringement notices such as speeding and parking fines: $15.5 million
■Enforcement fees: $7.4 million
There were 81,810 fines worth $17.8 million referred to the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Service in 2013-14.
Of those, 37,445 fines totalling $10.6 million remain outstanding.
The effective collection rate for the MPES was 95 per cent.
There were 15,777 drivers’ licence suspensions in 2013-14 as a result of unpaid fines and a further 1078 vehicle registrations cancelled.
More than 800 debtors had their identities published on the MPES ‘‘name and shame’’ file while just under 1000 warrants were issued for the seizure and sale of properties.
The threat of having your car sold to cover unpaid fines proved a good motivator according to Justice Department deputy secretary Robert Williams.
He told Legislative Council estimates that 22 cars had been seized, but none were sold off.
‘‘All those people have paid their fines or engaged in a plan,’’ he said.
The MPES is the debt collector of last resort for the state’s 29 councils, who generally go through corporate collection agencies first.
‘‘We get the hardest of the hard from the councils,’’ Mr Williams said.
The MPES is such a good money spinner for the government that it was one of the few agencies not required to make budget cuts other than the wage pause.
Indeed this year it sees an increase of about $200,000 and nearly a further $500,000 over the forward estimates to its bottom line.
‘‘They are maintaining their money so they can maintain their staffing number and maintain their very high recovery rate, which is a net positive for the state budget,’’ Justice Department secretary Simon Overland said.