Fin Receives Record $100,000 Traffic Ticket

Yahoo Most e-mailed; Reuters | 01-14-02

[mercy]

This astonishes me. Only a communist could justify such government confiscation of wealth. 47 in a 32 .... let's see, that's about $6666.66 per mile. What a stupid people.

[lds23]

If you can't take the heat, get the hel out of the sinki.

[thesharkboy]

Reminder to self: when in Finland, take the train. Or better yet, don't go to Finland.

[philosofy123]

This is vbey funny! So when I go to McDonald, they should charge me $50 for a big mac?

[Fred Mertz]

Unlike in many other countries, Finnish traffic fines vary according to the offender's average income.

I was going to say what a bunch of socialist clap-trap rules; then I thought we could develop a set of exhorbitant fines by zip code, starting with Hollywood.

[mercy]

Yeah, really. And I had my yacht tour of Scandinavia all planned. Now I'll have to rearrange everything! Dratt!

[mercy]

Not a bad idea. I vote we put the entire state of Mass. very near the top of the list as well.

[mercy]

LOL. Pretty funny. And quick too.

[Timesink]

So, in other words, it's legal to drive 200 mph, as long as you're on welfare?

[StriperSniper]

So, in other words, it's legal to drive 200 mph, as long as you're on welfare?

No, but you will have to buy a cheaper six-pack to cover the fine.

[Puliko]

I bet you all the wellfare recepients would love this. They don't need to buy insurance, can drive as fast as they want to, because no insurance, 50 cents; speeding, 1 cent per mile, because they don't have incomes. Better yet, let's all become wellfare recipients, buy brand new cars, and race on they streets!!!

[Steve_Seattle]

"traffic fines vary according to average income"

Not necessarily a horrible idea, but the amount of this fine is pure socialist confiscatory you-are-owned-by-the-state bulls*it. Here in Seattle, every other year your car must pass an emissions test, and if it fails you have to spend a minimum of $150 bucks to try to fix it. If the fix fails, they will usually give you a waiver. The burden of this law falls on low income people who drive old beaters and can't afford shelling out $200-$800 to fix the problem.

[illbenice]

"This astonishes me. Only a communist could justify such government confiscation of wealth. 47 in a 32 .... let's see, that's about $6666.66 per mile. What a stupid people."

Try thinking about it differently, a poor guy gets a ticket in the US for $90 dollars and a rich guy gets a ticket for 90$ who feels the impact of the fine? The rich guy probaly will just brush of the fine being that $90 is nothing to him, and he will not learn from his mistake, but the poor guy will loose a weeks discretionary income and will probaly learn a lesson. By youre reasoning a poor man should pay the same dollar amount in taxes as a well to do guy, that is on its face stupid, everyone should feel the same punch in the stomach.

[Grit]

Not necessarily a horrible idea, but...

I beg to differ, Steve. This is the most offensively horrible idea I have seen in a while. If its wrong at 100k, its wrong at 10k, its wrong at $1000 and so on.

[Grit]

everyone should feel the same punch in the stomach.

Mao? Stalin? -- I do hope you just forgot your sarcasm tag.

[freedomcrusader]

To summarize your point: "From each according to their abilities..."

[Grit]

By youre reasoning a poor man should pay the same dollar amount in taxes as a well to do guy,

Yes.

that is on its face stupid

It may be stupid and that may be a point of debate, but that is/was the only constitutional method. Until the 16th Amendment anyway.

[from occupied ga]

By youre reasoning a poor man should pay the same dollar amount in taxes as a well to do guy,

ABSOLUTELY!!! This is a wonderful idea. Everyone should pay exactly the same marginal tax rate. (notice this is not the same as paying the same tax, just the same fraction of their income).

As to any "unfairness", ask yourself, "Why are rich people rich?" The answer is that the do things to make themselves rich. Mainly work hard*, stay married, avoid poor lifestyle choices, and spend their money frugally. In short, they behave responsible.

The convers is "Why are people poor?" The answer is that they do things that makes thesmselves poor. They make poor lifesty choices, spend their money foolishly, and don't work as hard*

*In spite of what the Democraps would have you believe, family income correlates pretty well with number of hours worked per week. The highest earning families have combined hours per week worked in the 80's and higher. The lowest earning families have hours per week worked in the mid 20's. These are life style choices. Maybe the poorer families enjoy their time more, but they could choose to work harder if they so desired (statistically of course) Why are people rich?

[steve50]

That is the exact same logic as " from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". I hope you rethink this premise.

[illbenice]

You all make great points, which I mostly agree with, but the premiss that poor people make them selves poor thru life choices is not always true. Some times you can be stuck in a system were you have to remain broke for a extended period of time, because of circumstances out of youre hands.

And dont think for a moment the court system in the states doesnt, in a fasion, adjust penalties acording to circumstances surrounding a defendits life. If you work part time and go to school and you get a 2nd degree DWI, for example, youre fine will be $100 to $200, but if you are well off finically they will hit you up for the maximum $1,000.

And I talk from experience, I grew up poor and with a expensive disease, I have to take baby steps out of government programs towards being self reliant because medicare, SS, Student aid, etc. all trap you into a stupid reliance on them. Meaning if you can drop one and do you are not elegable for the rest, namely medicare, which you cant just stop needing. See, its hard to get a job with good medical coverage, even if youre qualified, because which insurance company will pick up a $346,000+ a year medical tab?

happy freeping, illbenice