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Speeding tickets based on income

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Speeding tickets based on income

Finland Finland Finland, the place I quote don't want to be..

from JoeUser Forums

I read an article this month in Car & Driver that Finland has passed a law in which traffic fines are now based on your annual income.  So a person going 5 over may be fined $10 or $100,000 depending on whom they are. This bit the CEO of Nokia recently when he received a $12 MILLION fine for going 15 over.

Such a thing is, hopefully, unconstitutional in the United States.  In the US, we're supposed to be equal under the law.  Imagine the abuse a law like that could cause.  Cities looking to increase revenue simply park officers in the wealthier parts of town.  Wealthy people, effectively, would have less freedom than non-wealthy people since as a practical matter, most people speed from time to time but the wealthy would disproportionately have their speed limits enforced.

I understand the argument for such a law -- to the rich guy, a traffic fine is meaningless.  A $100 fine is more of an annoyance to the millionaire due to having been stopped than the actual cost (and the increase in insurance is a bigger deal anyway).  But all citizens are supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law.  The rich pay far more in taxes but still have to drive on the same roads. 

If speeding is really such a serious problem that people are flaunting the speed limits then lower the number of points someone can get before their license is taken away from them. Finland's laws, and others like it, seem like pretty transparent attempts for governments to justify squeezing more from its citizens.

automotive
15,413 views 27 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's an interesting idea, but 12 mil is a bit of a joke, I agree that fines are fines and should not be indexed, main reason being that income does not immediately reflect your standard of living, due to each persons circumstances being different.
It's also interesting that here in the land downunder some state govs are considering this concept, however itdoes not seem to have much support at this stage, lets hope sanity prevails and it stays that way.
Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top
Great arguments!

I think that punishment based on income can only happen if there is some type of conclusion that rich people tend to speed more than anyone else. If there is some conclusion that they do so, then I am for the percentage fine increases. Otherwise, a rich person not caring about paying 100 dollars and more in insurance or being able to hire a lawyer is irrelevant (might not be fair, but...)

This is why people want to become rich so they can afford stuff like this. Remember when I wrote about how poor people pay more? This is an example. You might not pay as much in taxes, but you also can't buy in bulk, have storage refrigerators, get better quality clothing (longer lasting), and when you get in trouble... well...

Nevertheless, the idea of taking more from a rich person IS something that happens in criminal court when fines are involved or even bail, but this is because it has been discovered that without a higher penalty in those types of cases for the rich, then they are free to just say 'no problem, just pay the 100 dollars bail'.


Which lead me back to my original statement; if it can be shown that rich people break the vehicular laws more than others because they can afford to, then there should be a percentage increase. Otherwise, the new system will be abused by the State just to get more money out of people who already pay a large amount of taxes.
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