Car Insurance Incentive Costs Taxpayers
The car insurance incentive in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is one that is largely unheard of elsewhere, as it calls for taxpayers to pay for the car insurance of many workers in the private sector. This applies mostly to the county’s government employees, but it means that taxpayers are paying an extra $200,000 per year in order for these workers to drive their cars for free. On top of the cheap car insurance rates that these government workers are receiving, they also get money for fuel and maintenance costs on their cars, which nearly double the amount of money that the taxpayers are paying. This car insurance incentive is definitely not a good deal for taxpayers and should be amended immediately.
In these tough economic times, it is very strange that the taxpayers would be forced to pay for something like car insurance, which is what makes this situation in Bucks County so ironic. It is also important to remember that Bucks County already has some extremely cheap car insurance, so it is not as if these government workers could not afford the car insurance rates on their own. The taxpayers of Bucks County should be outraged by this because their tax money could be going toward more useful social programs in the area.
Recently, Bucks County has also been victim of a scam where a licensed car insurance dealer was advertising his services in New York. This is because the average cost of insurance in New York is about $3,000 more per year than it is in Bucks County. These New Yorkers were traveling to Bucks County to get their insurance and then getting cheap car insurance. However, if these people were ever in an accident, it would affect the insurance rates in Bucks County rather than New York. Therefore, this scam could lead to higher rates on car insurance in Bucks County which, in turn, would cost the taxpayers even more money in the future.
What this fraud shows is that government workers should feel lucky that they have some of the lowest car insurance rates in the country and should gladly pay for their own insurance. The $400 or so that these individuals are collecting every month could be used for other, more useful, things. People are being laid off in the county everyday and countless workers are being forced to pay for their own healthcare, but these private sector employees are being given free car insurance. While this incentive makes being a government worker a source of pride, it is a program that should be altered because it is not fair to the region’s taxpayers.
