Pay Fines Based On Your Ability

[Baldie88]

Those of us in the St. Louis area are still being inundated daily with the fall out of the Michael Brown shooting. There is a big push now to erase the records of any "peaceful" protester who was arrested. We still have to deal with daily protests blocking streets and buildings in downtown St. Louis

On a similar note there is now a related push to reduce or eliminate fines for traffic and other types of violations based on our ability to pay. One TV station interviewed a young lady yesterday who has spent several stints in jail because of outstanding warrants. The warrants stemmed from her not paying speeding or related fines. When asked why she just didn't pay the fines she said she didn't have much money so she couldn't pay them. I believe she now has the ACLU filing a "discrimination" suit against St. Louis and other municipalities saying it's unfair to fine or jail "poor" people.

This got me to thinking. Say myself and another individual are both stopped for speeding at the same location and time, say 15 mph over the limit. Do I pay a $100 fine because I have a job and make a decent wage and the other person only pays $10 because they have a minimum wage job or no job at all? Isn't this just another form of discrimination? We were both fined for speeding. Do I now need to go to court with my pay stubs showing that I have the ability to pay the fine? Can I now file for discrimination because I'm having to pay more than the other person just because I can pay?

I'm all for charity but I'm also all for personal responsibility, which seems to be lacking in many people now.

Ron
"Baldie88"

P.S. When the young lady was asked she admitted to still having 6 outstanding warrants because of not paying her speeding tickets.

 

[jrose7004]

The world has just gone crazy trying to compensate for everything at all times! My father and grandfather are rolling over in their graves!

 

[Hib Halverson]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, we can bitch about this kind of thing until the cows come home, but until the majority of American voters see "promises" of progressivism as the big fat lies that they are and decide they're are willing to sometimes make choices conservative or libertarian, we'll continue to see situations like the above.

I'm not saying we all need to become right-wing nut cases, but we need to realize that liberalism is not the only way for our society to thrive.

 

[Antz81]

If you can't afford to pay the fine, there is a very simple solution. Don't speed, go through red lights, make illegal u-turns,etc.
problem solved

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

If you can't afford to pay the fine, there is a very simple solution. Don't speed, go through red lights, make illegal u-turns,etc.
problem solved

If they can't/won't pay, take away their license. If they continue to drive, toss 'em in jail.

The ability to pay system exists in Scandinavia, I think I remember one driver that got a speeding ticket of around $100K. Barely put a dent in his bank account.

 

[kpic]

We are watching a government which is becoming more and more stupid.

As Margaret Thatcher said
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”

“Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.”

“Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.”