In Finland - $70,000 speeding ticket (amount of fine linked to income)

[pampango]

Finland: Speeding millionaire gets 54,000-euro fine

A Finnish man has been handed a whopping 54,000-euro fine for speeding.

Finland's speeding fines are linked to income, with penalties calculated on daily earnings, meaning high earners get hit with bigger penalties for breaking the law. So, when businessman Reima Kuisla was caught doing 103km/h (64mph) in an area where the speed limit is 80km/h (50mph), authorities turned to his 2013 tax return, the Iltalehti newspaper reports. He earned 6.5m euros (£4.72m) that year, so was told to hand over 54,000 euros. The scale of the fine hasn't gone down well with Mr Kuisla. "Ten years ago I wouldn't have believed that I would seriously consider moving abroad," he says on his Facebook page. "Finland is impossible to live in for certain kinds of people who have high incomes and wealth."

There's little sympathy from his fellow Finns on social media. "If you follow the rules you won't have to pay fines," says one user commenting on the Iltalehti website. "He should stop complaining and hang his head in shame instead". Another person says: "Small fines won't deter the rich - fines have to 'bite' everyone the same way." But some say the system isn't fair, and punishes the rich in society. Mr Kuisla might be grateful he doesn't earn more. In 2002, an executive at Nokia was slapped with a 116,000-euro fine for speeding on his Harley Davidson motorbike. His penalty was based on a salary of 14m euros.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-31709454

Amazing how some societies are structured so differently from ours.

[Agschmid]

1. Wow.

[Kalidurga]

2. I totally agree with this policy

it's not like they would notice a fine of a couple hundred dollars.

[snooper2]

3. doing the math, somebody here making 80K would have a $664 ticket

Just FYI


OUTRAGE!

[Aerows]

25. Not to complain

but I had a ticket nearly that high once. 26mph over the speed limit is a bummer.

[marmar]

4. Complete opposite of our tax/penalty system.

I'm downright envious of the progressive Scandinavian mindset toward such matters.

[Orsino]

5. He may emigrate, but I'll bet he does it at a reasonable speed.

That "impossible to live in" drips with entitlement. He thought his high income was supposed to exempt him from legal burdens...but the court has succeeded in getting his attention.

Wish progressive fines would catch on here--if not at the top end of the scale, then at the bottom where people are getting jailed for not paying.

[KingCharlemagne]

16. IANAL, but are people 'getting jailed for not paying'? I thought SCOTUS had ruled such

practices unconstitutional?

What I actually think may be happening is that some people agree to pay fines and restitution as a condition of probation, fail to pay thereby violating probation, and find themselves jailed for the probation violation.

But I don't follow the matter super closely and am open to learning more.

[Orsino]

20. You'd think so, wouldn't you? Yet it's a thing, and on the rise.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/increasing-number-going-to-jail-for-not-paying-fines/article_8b8d2229-c7ad-5e7f-aea2-baeb13390880.html

[bettyellen]

23. yes, they are. It is a disturbing trend.

[Shrike47]

26. They are jailed for contempt of a court order to pay.

[bettyellen]

29. another link for you....

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/scathing-doj-report-ferguson-police-imminent

[truebluegreen]

6. I LOVE it!

Should be applied to offenses across the board, especially those which damage society--Hello, Banksters! And if every country did it, those f@ckers wouldn't have any place to run.

I know, I'm just dreamin' here.

[DetlefK]

7. I have proposed that prison-sentences are calculated based on the damages.

1 year prison (mandatory minimum, no parole) for each $1 million in damages you have caused.

A CEO pilfered $20 million from his company? That's 20+ years.

[brooklynite]

8. But wouldn't it be simpler to just eliminate the speed limit?

Freedom!

[Orrex]

9. That fine system is strong to the Finnish.

[hunter]

10. This is the way it ought to be.

A $200 traffic fine can ruin the life of a minimum wage worker with two jobs and an old car.

It's nothing but a minor annoyance for the guy making $500,000 a year, and if he's really an asshole he'll drop it off with his lawyer who will figure out some underhanded way to have the ticket dismissed.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. +1

[KingCharlemagne]

18. No offense, but $500K a year is chump change to the 0.01% - nt

[hunter]

21. Let them suck on billion dollar fines for speeding tickets.

.

[procon]

11. Here's the money quote:

"...fines have to 'bite' everyone the same way."

A $70K fine should have the same impact on a wealthy man as a $70 fine would have on a minimum wage worker. Just as progressive government imposed taxation works on a sliding scale, its only common sense to have the same progressive policy applied to government imposed fines and penalties.

[Reter]

12. I don't support this, I'm sorry

Rich people should not be fined more for doing the same crime, they should be taxed more.

[Orrex]

15. I propose that everyone be fined the same 0.83% of their annual income

And rich people should be taxed more.

[hunter]

17. Actually, I think the uber-wealthy class ought to be taxed out of existence.

Maximum income ought to be some multiple of minimum income, and maximum wealth ought to be some multiple of minimum wealth.

In realistic support of our Constitution's preamble, I suspect the ideal multiple would be less than twenty and possibly as low as eight.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[KingCharlemagne]

19. But . . . but . . . but . . . 'freedom' :sarcasm: - nt

[madokie]

14. I like this

to be fair is to be fair and this is a fair system

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. That's what... 0.8% of his annual income?

This is equivalent to a $166 ticket given to a minimum wage worker. How much sympathy do we have for them?

"Punish the rich" is the weirdest turn of phrase in modern language.

[meow2u3]

24. I like this idea

This way, we can hit evil billionaires where it hurts them the most--right in their bank accounts!

[SoLeftIAmRight]

27. Very Good

equal justice

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. An old French Socialist joke.

A tourist sees a French cop arresting a homeless man and asks why he's being arrested.

Gendarme: He's being arrested for taking food out of a garbage can outside the restaurant.

Tourist: That doesn't seem fair. Arresting a poor, hungry man, for trying to get food.

Gendarme: I assure you, M'sieur that if a rich man taking food from a garbage can I would arrest him too.