Posted on 01/14/2002 9:21:43 AM PST by mercy
Monday January 14 10:30 AM ET
A $100,000 Speeding Fine??
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A senior executive of the world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia (news - web sites) is appealing a record $103,600 fine for speeding because his income has dropped, Finnish media and officials said Monday.
Millionaire and Harley Davidson enthusiast Anssi Vanjoki was caught racing his motorbike down a Helsinki street in October at 47 mph in a 31 mph zone, the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported.
Unlike in many other countries, Finnish traffic fines vary according to the offender's average income.
The fine was based on Vanjoki's 1999 income which was boosted by big options sales. But Vanjoki's income dropped drastically last year as Nokia's share price fell alongside other tech shares, making option sales uneconomical.
Van joki's fine is believed to be the largest ever traffic penalty in Finland, beating a fine of more than $71,000 handed down to Internet millionaire Jaakko Rytsola and one of $31,200 given to Vanjoki's colleague, Nokia president Pekka Ala-Pietila.
A Helsinki district court official confirmed to Reuters that Vanjoki's appeal would be heard on May 15.
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.
No, but you will have to buy a cheaper six-pack to cover the fine.
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.
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.
Mao? Stalin? -- I do hope you just forgot your sarcasm tag.
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.
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?
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
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