unfair fines........?

Question

were supposed to live in a fair and classless society,
so why is it, laws have been put in place, where if one drops litter, one can be given an on the spot fine, of £50-£80, depending on where you live.
surely it would have been better to introduce a system, where you are docked say 5-15%, of your net income depending on the nature of the environ-crime you commit, £80 to someone on tax credits is outragous, £80 to someone on high incomes, i.e. national average & above £28,000 p/yr is a drop in the ocean. we all dump rubbish, be it intentional or not, but unfair fines are just a way of hurting those who can least afford it, same applies to other on the spot fines....do you agree with the sentiment and why ?

Answer 1

these fines are not applied to resolve a problem but simply to increase the coffers for the goverment. £80 fine for dropping litter is unfair no matter what salary you earn and besides i am sick of this mentality. WHY should people who earn more be punished simply for working hard whereas layabouts get away with it. In this country you are far better sitting at home with 3 kids and claiming benefits than going out to work.

Rather than fine people . ie speed cameras, litter dropping employ more police and rubbish collectors therefore giving jobs

Answer 2

In theory you are absolutely correct. The idea of "equity" demands that those who are less well off should pay less than those with more. But -- here's the rub...

The only way your mitigating factors can be taken into account is through a trial. An officer on the street has neither the time, capacity nor authority to make determinations of economic circumstances. If we are serious about putting your suggestions to work, we would have to put every litterbug on trial, and that is prohibitively expensive. Thus, the only solution is to create a single sized fine that is uniformly enforced on all people, regardless of income. There is no viable alternative outside of a courtroom.

Answer 3

Come on its the Blair PC brigade. If you employ thousands of civil servants you have to give them something to do. So how do we pay for them. Easy what do people do that will take time for them to correct. Its like bells on bikes. You send someone out to spy and skulk around a corner. Then you see a child drop a lolly stick from its pram. Mum missed it but you jump £80 fine madam. Rich or poor they have you. Trouble is you can get out of your head on drink and drugs drive a car and kill someone. If you didn't mean to you may get away with little more that an £80 fine. No logic but revenue is the game. It stinks.

Answer 4

Wow Chris you're not having a happy Sunday are you?
I agree that fines should be related to a persons finances - not necessarily their income as many rich people put their earning in Trusts so it looks as if they don't earn much, that way they don't pay so much Income Tax. But, fines should be high enough to hurt. That means even if you are poor you need to pay if you break the law. the only real answer is DON'T break the law.
You don't say if you did or not, i hope you didn't!

Answer 5

I don't pay any fines, I avoid them in a very clever way.

The secret is, but don't tell anyone ssshh, I don't drop litter, I don,t speed and I do not steal etc.

Answer 6

Quit-Breaking-The-Fuking-Law! That seems to be the "Best-Method" of avoiding fines you god-damned litter-bug! Hope this answers your question. 1st Sgt., 7th Special Forces, (Ret.) Vietnam "67"-"70"
-damned litter bug!

Answer 7

no it is there for a reason to stop people doing it, so if they were to take heed of this they would not drop the litter in the first place.

Answer 8

its the poorer people who dump the rubbish more than the rich... they drive around in cars not hop off and on buses

Answer 9

No. the cost of "damage" is the same no matter the income of the culprit.