Less in what sense? Those who have the least are the ones who commit most crimes anyway. How severe a penalty is depends on an individual's perception. It's relative. If the punishment is meant to discourage then is must be applied proportionally.
Less in terms of jail time. A poor person would have less to lose for attempting crime because he would receive less jail time under your system. A rich person would receive more jail time for the same crime because his liberty would be seen as more "valuable". A variation of this is how organized crime works, which your system promotes. :)
If it is meant to stop (prevent) a criminal from ever hurting the society then death penalty and lifelong incarceration are equal justice for all.
The punishment should be proportional to the crime, not the person.
A $50 parking ticket is meaningless to a millionaire. To someone struggling on a tight budget it can be a disaster. It this case, it may discourage the one struggling and have no effect on the millionaire, yet their misdemeanor is the same.
Sure, for Mickey Mouse violations it does work like that. But it doesn't take long before people face loss of license or jail time. It evens out pretty quickly. Parking tickets are one thing, but even something as small as speeding can get serious if one isn't careful.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.Seven