$290K Speeding ticket - fines based on income
GENEVA - European countries are increasingly pegging speeding fines to income as a way to punish wealthy scofflaws who would otherwise ignore tickets.
Advocates say a $290,000 speeding ticket slapped on a millionaire Ferrari driver in Switzerland was a fair and well-deserved example of the trend.
Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries also issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. In Germany the maximum fine can be as much as $16 million compared to only $1 million in Switzerland.
The Swiss court appeared to set a world record when it levied the fine in November on a man identified in the Swiss media only as “Roland S.”
Fines didn’t have an impact until Swiss voters let judges hand down fines based on personal income and wealth for moderate misdemeanors including excessive speeding and drunken driving. Before, they had to assign relatively small, fixed penalties or rarely a few days in prison.
Source: $290K Speeding ticket - fines based on income
Advocates say a $290,000 speeding ticket slapped on a millionaire Ferrari driver in Switzerland was a fair and well-deserved example of the trend.
Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries also issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. In Germany the maximum fine can be as much as $16 million compared to only $1 million in Switzerland.
The Swiss court appeared to set a world record when it levied the fine in November on a man identified in the Swiss media only as “Roland S.”
Fines didn’t have an impact until Swiss voters let judges hand down fines based on personal income and wealth for moderate misdemeanors including excessive speeding and drunken driving. Before, they had to assign relatively small, fixed penalties or rarely a few days in prison.
Source: $290K Speeding ticket - fines based on income
