The stupidity of fines.

FluffyMcDeath

FluffyMcDeath

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The big problem with fixed amount fines is that they punish the poor more than they punish the rich. If a guy on minimum wage gets a hundred dollar fine for driving his junker too fast it's a considerable part of the weeks after tax earnings. If the Mitt Romney gets pulled over and given the same fine (like that would happen) he can pay of the $100 with the income from less than 1 second of moving his mouth at his public speaking fee rate. And Mitt isn't even super rich.

And fines are even more stupid when they seem to be directed at preventing the little guy from making an independent living.
Of course, it's way easier for the cops to write stupid tickets to street vendors than to write tickets for bigger fish - but imagine how the law enforcement focus would change if instead of a fixed fine the fine was an average days income for a business. I think the police would be paying more attention to the real crooks.
 
And if fines were based on people's IQ, then liberals could get away with murder, scot free!:whack:
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
The big problem with fixed amount fines is that they punish the poor more than they punish the rich. If a guy on minimum wage gets a hundred dollar fine for driving his junker too fast it's a considerable part of the weeks after tax earnings. If the Mitt Romney gets pulled over and given the same fine (like that would happen) he can pay of the $100 with the income from less than 1 second of moving his mouth at his public speaking fee rate. And Mitt isn't even super rich.

And fines are even more stupid when they seem to be directed at preventing the little guy from making an independent living.
Of course, it's way easier for the cops to write stupid tickets to street vendors than to write tickets for bigger fish - but imagine how the law enforcement focus would change if instead of a fixed fine the fine was an average days income for a business. I think the police would be paying more attention to the real crooks.
Click to expand...

:lol: You forgot to mention that being white and middle aged/class will decrease the impact of said fine. This problem of fixed fines is another example of why America isn't a democracy.
 
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