There are a lot of ways to steal from the taxpayers.  One way is to misappropriate money for pet projects of little interest or use to the majority of taxpayers.  Another way is to manage money with little regard for oversight or transparency so that it ends up disappearing down bureaucratic black holes.

But another way is to manipulate certain policies, like traffic laws for instance, to maximize revenue even when said manipulations have a negative impact on public safety.  Six American cities are being accused of this form of stealing because they’re manipulating yellow light times in order to maximize the number of traffic infractions at certain intersections.

Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection.

Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.

Much as with earmark spending, this brings into question the appropriate role of government.  The power to tax does not exist so that politicians can distribute those tax proceeds to special pet projects which only benefit them and their political patrons.  The power to set traffic laws does not exist so that politicians can manipulate them to increase revenue.

Taxes are for legitimate functions of government, and traffic laws are for public safety.  Not revenue.