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Why not. I already pay more insurance for those that go without or with minimums. I help support the state assigned risk pool for habitual bad offenders. Why not pay more than the guy in the lane next to me that get's hung out a car length or two in the intersection on the way home from work when it turns red.
I subsidize peoples rents, I subsidize their utilities, I subsidize student lunches as well as college educations for those that get need based reductions, grants etc.
But hey, I have it coming I guess because since neither of my parents went to college and I grew up in a house that clipped coupons, had a giant garden and often wore hand-me-down clothes I got from the doctors family my family cleaned house for on occasion for extra money...us silver spooners need to pay their fair share.
At some point it gets annoying....but you keep rolling out those Bill Gates examples because like you said, you want it to be "scaled" oh wait.....it scales onto people like me too like everything else these days.
I can afford those fines, but you know what? I STILL don't want to pay them so I don't do those things! I try not to do things that I could be fined for. That's what normal people do.
So you never went over the speed limit? Good boy Beav!
Everyone of us breaks laws once in a while, sometimes unintentionally.
I highly doubt you keep to 55 on superhighways or 30 on secondary roads. Unless you don't drive.
I did use the word TRY. And no I don’t speed through areas where it’s 30 mph. That’s just asking for a ticket where I live. I don’t live near any superhighways. On the roads here that are 55, i try to stick close to it. That can be tricky with our hills and mountains. There are areas which are infamous for their speed traps. Definitely don’t go 55 or above there! I’m not interested in giv8ng the government any more of my money.
It's proportional to how much money one earns and how much house/property one can afford.
No it is not. There is no nexus between property tax and income. Zero zilch nada.
The tax is the tax, whether you make a million dollars a year or 10,000/year is immaterial.
I do understand the concept. For some people, a $1k fine might mean a choice between losing their apartment and not eating for a month or going to jail for non-payment. For someone else, that's their wine tab 3-4 nights per week. Conceptually, it's like saying everyone owes $10k in income taxes regardless of income.
And in each case, the persons in question made a choice to break the law. Either could just have easily made the choice to NOT break the law.
I get the point you are trying to make. However it is a fact that wealthier people often have the support systems necessary to satisfy the judge that they won't get into trouble again and will appear for trial. Also they more often have verifiable residences and employment. Poorer people often have none of these. That doesn't give much comfort that the average shakedown artist will show up for trial or be locate-able when the time comes.
Very true, bond amounts on a sliding scale would prove just as ineffective.
In the long run, treating crime like the rest of the planet is a better/less expensive solution; more restitution, less incarceration.
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I try not to do things that I could be fined for. That's what normal people do.
I used the word try. Perhaps you should befriend Merriam-Webster.
