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Should traffic fines and other fines be based on the income the offender makes?

Should traffic fines and other fines be based on the income one makes?

  • Total voters
    76
Bigkat80 said:
Why this fascination of the rich are some of you so envious that everything to you is class warfare. No absolutely not breaking the law has no status attached to it. if a poor person pays 100.00 the a billionare that broke precisely the same law ought to pay 100.00.
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I am not envious of any one. I just happen to see fines as a punishment, this is why I think fines should be percentage based so that everyone is equally punished for breaking the same law.
Get real this is utterly ridiculous.
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What is ridiculous is the idea that a hundred dollar fine for a billionaire is an equal punishment compared to someone who is poor or lower middle class.
 
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jamesrage said:
I am not envious of any one. I just happen to see fines as a punishment, this is why I think fines should be percentage based so that everyone is equally punished for breaking the same law.


What is ridiculous is the idea that a hundred dollar fine for a billionaire is an equal punishment compared to someone who is poor or lower middle class.
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Couldn't have said it better Jamesrage, that idea really is ridiculous - punishment is meant to be at least somewhat painful
 
phattonez said:
Should a punishment for murder depend on how much money I make? Should the punishment for theft depend on how much money I make? Why should this be any different?
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Should a parking fine or something that forces you to not be able to pay a bill or not be able to buy food and barely be pocket change for someone else??

Fines should hurt.. Equally.. Reguardless of income..

No be a smart lad and try to keep your arguement about fines and not jail sentences..
 
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Chuz Life said:
Thank you!

And I would apply this same line of questioning to my tax burden.

Why is our tax burdens (in the U.S.) proportionate to our income rather than our useage?

If Ross Perot or Bill Gates were in line at the grocery with you,.... and you and he were both buying a gallon of milk,... would he be expected to pay more for the milk than you are,... just because he has billions of dollars at his disposal?
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You do know the difference between income tax and sales tax don't you??

If you make 20 million a month in income, you better damn will pay more in taxes than someone who makes only 2,000 a month in income.. It is simple math.. Sales tax is irrelevent.. Just like your example..
 
jamesrage said:
I am not envious of any one. I just happen to see fines as a punishment, this is why I think fines should be percentage based so that everyone is equally punished for breaking the same law.


What is ridiculous is the idea that a hundred dollar fine for a billionaire is an equal punishment compared to someone who is poor or lower middle class.
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Wow!!! Bravo!! Something we agree on Mr. Rage!! Bravo!!! Well stated!! Got you liked on that one!!
 
To believe this would be a good idea is to be Anti-American.

We have a little thing called "Equal Protection"
 
Councilman said:
To believe this would be a good idea is to be Anti-American.

We have a little thing called "Equal Protection"
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As you may know, simply because we have certain policies does not make them the right ones.

To believe this would be completely American as we have tried to set a moral example for the rest of the world.

A percentage fine would, by definition, make it "equal punishment"
 
Councilman said:
To believe this would be a good idea is to be Anti-American.

We have a little thing called "Equal Protection"
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Which doesn't matter to conservatives when it comes to gay marriage or abortion.. What do you know about 'equal protection' when you so blatantly ignore it in other issues..

So have back at you babe and have a nice day!!
 
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jamesrage said:
You never heard of used cars,auctions or charities?


People do drive without insurance and many poor people can afford 40-50 bucks a month for insurance.
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How could somebody with no money buy a used car or at an auction?

Yes people do drive without insurance and if something happens they have no money to pay. The point is that poor people, people that have no money should not be driving.

People here have said it is unfair to poor people to have to pay a certain percentage of their "income" for a fine and a rich person should pay more.

A poor person has no money so how could they pay the fine anyway.
 
DemonMyst said:
Which doesn't matter to conservatives when it comes to gay marriage or abortion.. What do you know about 'equal protection' when you so blatantly ignore it in other issues..

So have back at you babe and have a nice day!!
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Some Liberals are really stupid but not all. Lumping all Conservatives together might cause some to rethink who is and isn't stupid.

I could be a Gay Blackman for all you know.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Wow this seems like a whole new line of work for middle and lower income people, chauffeurs for those that would otherwise be targeted by rent seeking police.
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Rent-A-Wreck could be back in business.
 
Councilman said:
To believe this would be a good idea is to be Anti-American.

We have a little thing called "Equal Protection"
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If you charged everyone the same percentage it would be equal.
 
Mason66 said:
How could somebody with no money buy a used car or at an auction?
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Used cars can be bought really cheap and used cars at auctions can be bought really cheap.

Yes people do drive without insurance and if something happens they have no money to pay. The point is that poor people, people that have no money should not be driving.
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Poor people have jobs too and public transportation is not always a option.


People here have said it is unfair to poor people to have to pay a certain percentage of their "income" for a fine and a rich person should pay more.
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A fine is a punishment. How is a hundred dollar fine a punishment to someone who makes millions?

A poor person has no money so how could they pay the fine anyway.
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I do not know about the jails where you live but in a lot of places you can work your fine off in jail.
 
jamesrage said:
Used cars can be bought really cheap and used cars at auctions can be bought really cheap.


Poor people have jobs too and public transportation is not always a option.




A fine is a punishment. How is a hundred dollar fine a punishment to someone who makes millions?



I do not know about the jails where you live but in a lot of places you can work your fine off in jail.
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Did you read the definition of poor?

Poor is having no money.

If somebody works, and I assume they get paid for their work, they are not poor.

Call them something else.

The point is that if they don't have reserves enough to cover whatever comes up, they should not be onthe road.
 
MusicAdventurer said:
I believe that the wealthy should definitely pay more for any illegal action than the poor. It should be a percentage of your income. Of course, there would have to be built-in protections to guard against police officers going after the wealthy more frequently in order to gain more finances. Punishment for an illegal act should be severe enough to deter the citizen from doing such an act again. A $100 to $200 fine is a lot for someone in poverty, but is chump change for anyone making 250K and up. So my answer is YES YES YES ... BUT incorporate safeguards .. good poll post jamesrag
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so a young healthy man should do more time in prison than an old sick one for the same offense.

equal treatment goes out the window with the class envy nonsense

and one could make an argument that those who are big tax payers ought to get certain benefits from the government such as not being fined for minor traffic infractions
 
Mason66 said:
Did you read the definition of poor?

Poor is having no money.
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Poor is having LITTLE or no money,goods, or other means of support. Not the absence of money,goods or other means of support. The term you are looking for is broke meaning without money.

Poor | Define Poor at Dictionary.com
1.
having little or no money, goods, or other means of support: a poor family living on welfare.



Broke | Define Broke at Dictionary.com
4.
without money; penniless.
If somebody works, and I assume they get paid for their work, they are not poor.

Call them something else.

The point is that if they don't have reserves enough to cover whatever comes up, they should not be onthe road.
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You are trying to argue that having a job makes one not poor?
 
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phattonez said:
Should a punishment for murder depend on how much money I make? Should the punishment for theft depend on how much money I make? Why should this be any different?
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Argument by analogy only convinces people who already agree with you.
 
Dezaad said:
I do think this is a problem. Perhaps the solution is to make everyone do community service work instead of pay fines. Everyone would do the same number of community service hours. Everyone draws their service assignment from a lottery. No one gets to pay to get out of it, and no one gets to pay someone else to do it for them. Everyone is treated 'equally' under the letter of the law.
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If time is money, how is it different? Certainly someone who make more money per unit of time loses more from lost time than someone who makes less.
 
Barbbtx said:
Why does everyone seem to want to punish those who have accumulated wealth?
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I think that the punishment in this case is reserved for people who break the traffic laws. ymmv.
 
American said:
More attempts at class envy. Poor people don't benefit when rich pay more do they?
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I don't think the intention is to benefit the poor. I may be mistaken, but I suspect that the intent is to adequately deter poor driving. I am not a physicist nor a physician, but I suspect that reckless driving can lead to an accident that can kill you just as fast if you have $10 in you name or $10bil.

Perhaps I using the wrong lenses to view this argument.
 
phattonez said:
Do we give out tickets on the basis that they are a deterrent for speeding or do we give them out in order to make people pay for the threat that they are causing to other people?
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Can I pay in advance for driving poorly? I am planning on switching lanes without notice while travelling in excess of the posted speed limit and I am willing to pay now for my chance to drive poorly next week.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Who's to say they won't and why do we always assume that rich people are mustache twisting law breakers?
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Afaict, we're not talking about "the rich" we're talking about law breakers who make a lot of money.
 
Cephus said:
Tickets don't stop anyone from speeding.
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May not stop anyone, but they sure stop me. I realized a while back that speeding doesn't really provide that much benefit to me, but does incur avoidable risks including getting ticket. I have proudly driven like grandpa for a couple of decades now.
ymmv.
 
TurtleDude said:
so a young healthy man should do more time in prison than an old sick one for the same offense.
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Don't they already have a way to let old sick prisoners out to die?

Don't judges take thing like age and ability into account when sentencing?

There was an old lady, in her 80s or 90s, who lived next to Central high who got busted dealing drugs more than once. The courts didn't want to be responsible for her, so she would not get any jail time despite being a repeat offender. If she had been 25 yrsold, and healthy she would have received a different sentence. Course, she prob'ly wouldn't've been dealing if she didn't think she could get away with it.
 
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