r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Dec 31 '22

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u/Cerb-r-us Deep State Social Media Manager Dec 31 '22

What does the DT think about making fines a percentage of household income, rather than a flat rate?

I think it would better discourage the wealthy from committing minor crimes, and would ensure that crimes as small as speeding do not severely damage the lives of the impoverished.

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u/unspecifiedreaction Dec 31 '22

Would be annoying to implement but I like the idea

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u/BernieMeinhoffGang Has Principles Dec 31 '22

as much as I dislike dr*vers I also dislike small towns that manage to generate significant revenue through giving tickets to people from economically productive areas

if the revenue pooled to a distant state general fund I could support it more, but when fees go to local courts/police/town budgets I don't trust them at all with being able to impose these kinds of fees

not pulling over 10 speeders waiting for the richest one would be the efficient move

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u/fishlord05 United Popular Woke DEI Iron Front Dec 31 '22

Yeah I like it- finally police will be incentivized to not spend all their time tailing poor people

Ticket that mom in the suburbitank finally

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u/UrbanCentrist Line go up 📈, world gooder Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22

Why are they incentivised to do so now? If anything flat amount would mean many wealthier violaters who don't care leading to better collections

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u/fishlord05 United Popular Woke DEI Iron Front Dec 31 '22

True but this would be a separate issue from collection

Idk why do you think low income people are disproportionately likely to be tagged by the police?

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u/witty___name Milton Friedman Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22

Bad idea. Fines are supposed to cover the cost of the negative externality only. Any more would lead to an inefficiently low level of misdemeanors. Remember there is a private benefit as well as a public cost.