Swiss court fines speeding millionaire $290,000 ST. GALLEN, Switzerland – A Swiss court has slapped a wealthy speeder with a chalet-sized fine — a full $290,000. Judges at the cantonal court in St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, based the record-breaking fine on the speeder’s estimated wealth of over $20 million. A statement on the court’s Web site says the driver — a repeat offender — drove up to 35 miles an hour (57 kilometers an hour) faster than the 50-mile-an-hour (80-kilometer-an-hour) limit.
Thank god this rule is not in the US. You might be paying half of your 5 years of savings in tickets.
So what if you’re in debt?
Then you get a standard fine (about 250 CHF for 20km/h over limit), if you can’t pay you can go to jail. The net worth fine only kicks in for serious offenders.
thats just wrong
Hallarious…but wrong
Sounds harsh, but if it’s clear that someone doesn’t care about obeying the law because “they’ll just pay the fine,” harsher penalties are in order. Here I think they just revoke your license, but a net worth based fine is an interesting thought to send a message.
All of you saying “that’s wrong”, do you not believe in a progressive tax structure?
justin88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > All of you saying “that’s wrong”, do you not > believe in a progressive tax structure? So you’re saying income is as easy to increase/decrease as choosing between right and wrong?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumball_3000 These guys have a ton of fun. Youtube videos show them driving top end cars coast to coast obtaining 7-8 speeding tickets a day. I think Jackass was in one of the rallys.
Yeah, Gumball Rally/Players run is CRAZY.
I support progressive tax structures, but not higher prices or penalties for rich people on most things other than income. Imagine if we charged rich people a tax for groceries or for going to see movies. If normal speeding fines are not sufficient to prevent rich people from speeding, then they should enforce other penalties such as license suspension or in extreme case, jail time.
^ Also, making 250k in Phoenix is not the same as making 250k in NYC
nuppal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So you’re saying income is as easy to > increase/decrease as choosing between right and > wrong? That’s why we work in finance, no?
justin88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > nuppal Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > So you’re saying income is as easy to > > increase/decrease as choosing between right and > > wrong? > > That’s why we work in finance, no? I love wrong.
justin88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > nuppal Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > So you’re saying income is as easy to > > increase/decrease as choosing between right and > > wrong? > > That’s why we work in finance, no? So what you’re saying is that everyone should work in finance so they can dictate how much they pay in taxes and speeding tickets.
Wow, talk about wealth envy!
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sounds harsh, but if it’s clear that someone > doesn’t care about obeying the law because > “they’ll just pay the fine,” harsher penalties are > in order. Here I think they just revoke your > license, but a net worth based fine is an > interesting thought to send a message. exactly like how harsh they NEED to be for insider trading. Example: Martha Stewart. Give her a fine of a few hundred thou…she probably wouldnt give a sh*t about it. put her in jail…changes your whole perceptive on things
@justin88: No I don’t. I believe the concept of the the marginal value of a dollar is flawed since it is a heterogeneous concept, rather than a homogeneous one as proponents of progressive taxation would have you believe.
I think they have this sort of policy in Finland too.