Fines and Fees of the Poor While Top Employers are Exempt from Property Taxes
The conditions in West Baltimore today are the direct consequence of speculative real estate practices that have long targeted people with few to no options.
On the heels of any ghetto economy based on extraction comes the excessive policing necessary to keep everyone in place. Cities that are starved for income have found ways to raise revenues by way of fines and fees exacted from poor, underemployed African-Americans and migrants of color. These include property taxes and court costs. In Maryland, in particular, these come in lieu of property taxes that many of the state’s largest employers are not required to pay.