Comments on: Here’s an idea – bigger fines for richer people

By: George

George — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:32:49 +0000

@ Sam (10:23) : It’s just this sort of attitude which drove me from being a lifelong Labour supporter into the blue camp.

To get back into power you need to persuade people like me back (whether you like it or not).

Attitudes such as this, if they are common within the party, suggest that you’re a long way from achieving this.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:44:37 +0000

Even more drivel from labour. Darien have you not realised yet that such ideas got you kicked out of government?

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:23:56 +0000

Oh boy did this hit a nerve – just look at all the frothing at the mouth from the Tories! Faulty logic and reasoning and a good deal of vitriol… must mean you’re doing something right Darien.

By: Herodotus

Herodotus — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:03:34 +0000

To follow on from the logic a student with a loan and no income would be rewarded for speeding as they have -ve wealth . That would be an alternative way of funding tertiary education.

By: Spud

Spud — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:26:20 +0000

@Crash Cart agreed. And may your child grow and your mortgage shrink.

By: Crash Cart

Crash Cart — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:16:41 +0000

Sorry Dorothy but what is declared to inland revenue doesn’t give any indication as to how hard it is for someone to cough up a certain amount of money.

My wife and I earn good money. Some people would consider us well off. However we have a large mortgage and a small child. This means that my wife runs a budget so tight it would put a mouses arse hole to shame. For us even the lowest speeding fine would be a pretty hard thing to deal with. However when I was a teenager on the dole living in a ratty west Auckland flat the lowest speeding fine was reasonably easy to pay off. I had no responsabilities out of paying for booze or weed.

The assumption that earning more makes a fine less difficult to pay is flawed and if you can’t see it you need to open the other eye for some perspective.

By: George

George — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:01:53 +0000

And your views, Dorothy, on ‘nice’ people paying a disporportionate cost when they’re sent to prison? Should steps be taken to iron out this element of ‘unfairness in an unequal society’, or do you see equalisation as just working one way?

I have never mixed with gang members in my life. If for some reason I went to prison it would be a bigger penalty for me than for someone who lived in this environment, wouldn’t it? Do you think that in the name of equality we should do something to address this apparent bias in the judicial process which appears to favour the violent people in our society with what is effectively less of deterient for serious crimes?

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:33:56 +0000

the idea of tailoring fines to income was tried a few years back in the UK. Not difficult to implement – income is what you declared to Inland Revenue for the last tax year. Obviously fair as a £50 fine is nothing if you are wealthy, massive if you’re poor. However it was scrapped within months because of the outcry from better off people. So the poor carry on paying disproportionately high fines for similar offences. Just about sums up the unfairness of an unequal society IMHO.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:08:53 +0000

@Darien – I know – its not an attack but feedback on what I and others have discussed – theres alot riding on the next election, and many of us want to see Lab back – and with the right incentives, I can’t see why we can’t win back those who have turned to the dark side. Sometimes critical feedback is helpful – as it is in all industries, and you are right to post provocative things – it gives you and the rest of the team an idea of how other kiwis feel about certain issues, something red alert is good for, so keep up the good work.

By: SHG

SHG — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:57:52 +0000

I also think that the younger an offender is, the longer his or her jail sentence should be. Because a one-year sentence to an 18-year-old is nothing, whereas a one-year sentence to a 99-year-old is enormous.