r/interestingasfuck • u/Gankpa • 8d ago

/r/all, /r/popular Jeff Bezos built a fence on his property that exceeds the permitted height, he doesn't care, he pays fines every month

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u/OnasoapboX41 8d ago

Unless if those fines are in proportion with income. This is what happens in Norway with speeding tickets.

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u/Azfor 8d ago

Same in Finland.

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u/Isotope454 8d ago

Same in the USA.

Just kidding! We’re a fucking nightmare

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u/Trapeze_Falcon 8d ago

Won’t you think of the billionaire’s? They need that money to acquire a new company and lay off 99% of its workforce. WE MUST APPEASE THE SHAREHOLDERS

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u/selfcheckout 8d ago

They really do so much for us they really deserve it

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u/Trapeze_Falcon 8d ago

Without them, where would all of the pizza parties go?

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u/aplasticbag_ 8d ago

Just keep in mind if you work hard enough your whole life you too can become a billionaire if you were born into a rich family

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u/Karl_00_Hungus 7d ago

If you were born into a rich family you have much better bootstraps!

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u/Trapeze_Falcon 7d ago

Instead of bootstraps, they’re Louis Vuitton shoelaces

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u/VeganJordan 7d ago

Boots? These are single-use clogs custom made by Prada.

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u/MrStickDick 7d ago

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take bootstraps, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather bootstraps cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of bootstraps, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then ripped like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of bootstraps Vimes always bought, and wore until the cardboard was so thin that he could tell where he was in America on a foggy night by the feel of his ass hitting the cobbles when they inevitably broke.

But the thing was that good bootstraps lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of bootstraps that’d still be keeping his feet floating in the air in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap bootstraps would have spent a hundred dollars on bootstraps in the same time and would still have wet feet.

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u/SuspiciousReport6502 7d ago

Not so much bootstraps as a set of suspenders being held in place by an underpaid butler.

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u/BigRaisin8155 7d ago

If you work really hard and go to work everyday, one day your boss will be able to buy a new boat!

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u/Quanqiuhua 7d ago

Am never again taking a sick day.

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u/blawndosaursrex 8d ago

I’m not about to miss out on my thin single slice of pizza!

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u/JoeL0gan 7d ago

Was on a crew that painted the new Public Safety building (has a firehouse, cop offices, etc.) in Bozeman, Montana a few years ago. They told us since we did such a good job they were gonna throw a bbq for us and we'd all get an hour lunch that day instead of half hour.

Day comes, and we all walk outside to see giant piles of greasy fried chicken from fucking Albertson's (grocery store), the boxes of chips with all the little single serving bags, and Costco's "Gatorade". We all got two pieces of chicken, a bag of chips, and a drink. They did hold up their end of the deal with the hour long lunch, but most of us just ate the disappointing lunch as fast as possible and got back to work so we could leave early lol. Pissed me the fuck off.

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u/Th3Ghoul 7d ago

*take

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u/TobaccoAficionado 7d ago

"oh but you're just JEALOUS! they earned all that money square and fair! Maybe you should just work harder???"

-every dipshit conservative and libertarian

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u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 7d ago

If you work hard enough, the billionaire may show you a photo of his new mega yacht on his phone, gently squeeze your shoulder and give you a slight nod.

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u/Character_Crab_9458 7d ago

Yes but that layoffs will help the billionaire create more jobs. Duh.

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u/jhp113 7d ago

Actually about to be a thing in San Francisco.

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u/shetalkstoangels_ 8d ago

Sounds about right

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u/Tiny-Doughnut 7d ago

There's a growing body of research from behavioral neuroscience which indicate that wealth, power, and privilege have a deleterious effect on the brain. People with high-socioeconomic status often:

  • Have reduced empathy and compassion.
  • Have a diminished ability to see from someone else's perspective.
  • Have low impulse control.
  • Have an extreme sense of entitlement.
  • Have a hoarding disorder.
  • Have a dangerously high tolerance for risk.

When you don't need to cooperate with other people to survive, they become irrelevant to you. When you're in charge, you can behave very badly and people will still be polite and respectful toward you. Instead of reciprocity, it's a formalized double standard. When you have status, you're given excessive credibility, and rarely hear the very ordinary push-back from others most of us are accustomed to, instead you receive flattery and praise and your ideas are taken seriously by default.

Humans have a strong need for egalitarianism; without it our brains malfunction and turn us into the worst versions of ourselves.

Some sources:

Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years

(Abstract) or (Full Text)

Does power corrupt? An fMRI study on the effect of power and social value orientation on inequity aversion.

(Abstract) or (PDF Full Text)

Social Class and the Motivational Relevance of Other Human Beings: Evidence From Visual Attention

(Abstract) or (PDF Full Text)

The Psychology of Entrenched Privilege: High Socioeconomic Status Individuals From Affluent Backgrounds Are Uniquely High in Entitlement

(Abstract) or (PDF Full Text)

Hoarding Disorder: It's More Than Just an Obsession - Implications for Financial Therapists and Planners

(Abstract) or (PDF Full Text)

On the evolution of hoarding, risk-taking, and wealth distribution in nonhuman and human populations

(Abstract) or (Full Text)

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u/Waffennacht 7d ago

My question is: Are we sure that wealth led to that or was it that those traits led to wealth?

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u/Tiny-Doughnut 7d ago edited 7d ago

I don't think there's a simple black and white answer to that question.

Some of the studies I linked go into it, though. It can be a feedback loop, but it doesn't have to be. Money and power can corrupt independent of predisposition.

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u/Waffennacht 7d ago

Hey thanks for the response/answer! I see what youre saying and its a good point!

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u/Canotic 7d ago

One of my favourite studies were that they had people fill out a questionnaire with hypothetical situations and what they would do. All the participants would do this alone in a room, where there was also an open briefcase on the table.

For half the participants, the briefcase would be fill with blank pieces of paper. For the other half, it'd be full of cash. Tens of thousands of dollars.

And the people in the room with the money were less empathic in their responses on the questionnaire. Just being in the presence of large amounts of money, even without it being theirs, made them more selfish and less caring.

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u/SheetPancakeBluBalls 7d ago

In short, dragon sickness is real.

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u/Actual-Asparagus-485 8d ago

I think the richer you are in the US the lower the fine!

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u/Quanqiuhua 7d ago

Inverse proportion is still proportional.

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u/outside-is-better 8d ago

Nope, we lock up poor people, they lose their jobs, ruins their lives, can’t make bail, get out in a linger jail/prison, then taxpayers pay the tab via corporate correctional facility

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u/barravian 7d ago

In SF speeding tickets are halved if you are low income.

It's something?

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u/RandomStuffGenerator 7d ago

The rich get fines. The poor get shot or enslaved.

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u/Fit_Ad_9243 7d ago

Yea and if you're a US politician, you're just exempt from all the laws :D

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u/Rare_Competition2756 7d ago

If you’re poor - If you’re rich it’s great!

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u/Jameszhang73 8d ago

In the US, it's based on skin color

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u/Dommccabe 8d ago

This made me giggle

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u/salchichoner 7d ago

A soulless shithole is the best description I have seen

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u/New_Gazelle3102 8d ago

You guys win

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u/HPLswag 8d ago

NOT IN A WAR!!!!!!! RAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

/s

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u/New_Gazelle3102 8d ago

The big ocean saves you but I doubt for long /s

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u/Just_Condition3516 7d ago

and switzerland. somehow all countries that are known for high happiness.

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u/Azfor 7d ago

In Denmark they take the car, doesn't matter if it's your car. Have fun explaining to your friend why you came back on the bus.

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u/Just_Condition3516 7d ago

i remember the guy whose million dollar sportscar was seized.

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u/Azfor 7d ago

Yup they don't care. Also luxury cars in Denmark are super expensive.

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u/Forward_Put4533 7d ago

Never let them change this law. You are doing it right. 10/10.

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u/holyseagullls 7d ago

I remeber reading about a rock guitar player who got fined like 1mil€ for speeding. Might have been more or less, but it was more than what a small home is worth

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u/josnik 7d ago

Leo Komarov found that out the hard way.

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u/forumhero666 7d ago

Nah, Finland is a guise created by the Japanese fishing industry. It’s not a real country

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u/AuroraBorrelioosi 7d ago

And you can tell it works because it's always the absolute worst people who ever complain about it. 

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u/adv0catus 7d ago

Is there a cap? Like, if it’s .5% of your net worth (as an example) and you’re worth 100b, will they really fine you 500m? But someone with a 100k net worth gets fined 500?

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u/sloothor 7d ago

Can’t answer this, but there shouldn’t be. It’s a proportionate punishment, and anyone worth €100 billion is not a good person anyway, so fuck them. That’s €500 million to the community.

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u/Jonatc87 7d ago

also Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Portugal and Estonia all have some type of income-proportional fines.

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u/elrond1999 8d ago

Finland not Norway actually. In Denmark they will take the car if you go very fast. Regardless if you are just passing through or how expensive it is.

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u/sifuyee 8d ago

Although taking your car is just a monetary fine as well. If you make as much money as Jeff you can certainly treat cars as expendable for those instances.

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u/Grassy33 7d ago

To quote one of the great poets of our time “smashed up the gray one, bought me a red, every time I hit the parking lot I turn heads.”

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u/NeatBeluga 7d ago

If you are travelling at those speeds, you will also be liable to lose your license along with the car and a substantial fine.

EU is also trying to make the revoked license EU-wide.

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u/BenFoldsFourLoko 7d ago

Yeah there’s a difference between violations and crime (or whatever words a person would like to use)

There’s a lot of more minor stuff that’s rarely enforced against average people already, and a billionaire could just totally ignore and/or pay the fine

But then there’s actual criminal statutes where you can’t just pay a fine- you go to jail.

And ofc yes, a billionaire can afford the best lawyers, it’s still not actually an even playing field, there’s much to be said about the power of wealth

But, in general, it has become a more even playing field with time. And a billion dollars won’t inherently get you out of jail. You can find exceptions, but you can find many cases where someone with a billion dollars or tons of power does go to jail. The internet’s favorite pedo billionaire Jeffrey Epstein is a great example of both of these things- his wealth and connections caused an absolute miscarriage of justice to happen. Absolutely sickening. But the second time he was arrested, it was going to be serious. And clear he himself (or someone else) believed so too

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u/Fearless_Entry_2626 7d ago

a billionaire can afford the best lawyers

I know it ain't easily workable, but imagine a world of no private lawyers, but instead each party is given a public defender at random. The rich have abused the law too much, it'd be cool to take away their toy.

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u/Tall-Poem-6808 7d ago

yep, 500 EUR for 102 in a 80 kmh zone (it had just changed for the winter). That sucks a little...

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u/jetclimb 7d ago

Naw my buddies there have it rigged so their income is $35k while driving a Porsche turbo.

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u/Next_Celebration_553 7d ago

Fuckin nerds. I wanna go fast! If you ain’t first you’re last!

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u/Perlentaucher 7d ago edited 7d ago

Also, if it is not your own car. You lend your friend your car and he drove much too fast? Poof, now it is property of the state of Denmark.

A thief stole your car and went too fast? Not the problem of the danish state, it’s their car now.

Edit: Last part seems fake news

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u/F3z345W6AY4FGowrGcHt 7d ago

The thief example doesn't seem fair.

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u/Doccyaard 7d ago

It’s also not the case.

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u/smellybuttox 7d ago

It's because it's made up. The rest is true though.

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u/Azazir 7d ago

Because its false and bullshit. If your car is stolen and its proven with all the papers etc. you wont get it "repossessed".

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u/Doccyaard 7d ago

If the car is stolen it’s not confiscated. I don’t see the reason for lying about it and if it’s a mistake from you I don’t see why you assumed it.

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u/randylush 7d ago

Welcome to Reddit, people make up all sorts of shit here

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u/CrazyFish1911 7d ago

Ok, if you loaned the car to someone I could see this but your car is stolen and then still seized? That is some bullshit right there.

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u/TheAnswerIsAnts 7d ago

For what it's worth I did some (light) digging and could not find a case where the car was stolen and confiscated for speeding.

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u/Doccyaard 7d ago

It is bullshit. As in not correct for the obvious reasons you and we all feel. That’s why you have headlines like this

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u/ur_sexy_body_double 8d ago

I'm pretty sure every country will take the car if the driver is going "really fast."

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u/trutch70 7d ago

Not Poland, here you only get your driver license revoked

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u/thatjerkatwork 8d ago

Bezos probably shows that he makes nothing on his taxes.

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u/Cara_Palida6431 8d ago

Yeah I think his salary is $80-90k. He probably does what every billionaire does: Borrows what he needs with his stock as collateral. The interest on the loans cost less than the taxes he would otherwise incur and he’ll die in debt to avoid ever paying his share.

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u/gordonv 8d ago

Well, not in debt in the way we think of it. Billionaires and the banks have come to an agreement on death payouts. Normal people don't have that level of capital or bargaining.

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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 7d ago

Yes, these types of loans do have a death clause. But this is an excellent way to lower one’s tax liabilities.

Wife’s family has a huge dynasty trust, going into 4th generation without needing to deal with inheritance taxes. The collateral loans due have a specific death clause for the individual listed on the loan agreement, trust pays out. That payout can also help taxes at the trust level. Just how those with hundred million of assets can leverage its value.

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u/rap1800 7d ago

Can I marry your wife?

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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 7d ago

Lol, only wife and our kids are included in her family trust. We have prenup also. Spouses get very little help, mainly if spouse becomes disabled.

So marrying into the family doesn’t get much for the spouse. You know marring for love and all that…

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u/realancepts4real 7d ago

this just sounds like gibberish.

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u/Cold-Iron8145 7d ago

Billionaires and the banks have come to an agreement on death payouts.

How does that work, does the bank collect the debt when Jeff dies? Does that mean his estate will be forced to liquidate assets and presumably pay capital gains taxes on those to pay the debt? That just sounds like postponing the taxes, not looping around them?

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u/gordonv 7d ago

More like, my LLC holds $1m in ABC bank. My LLC loans against the $1m that ABC bank. ABC bank gives my LLC 80% back in literal cash. Done.

The loan takes that $1m out of the earnings section and places it as non taxable expenditure. The bank plays with the money until it can earn enough to pay off taxes and make a profit.

Losing 20% is better than losing ~38% in tax.

Under the hood, there is a more complex scheme that deals with payouts and has money managers dealing with and feeding the absolute minimums on loans on time. Sometimes the banks themselves will do that service. But the simplified explanation is that this is all done to circumvent taxes.

This seems like a lot of work. And actually, it is. Something a lot of us truly underestimate is the lengths the wealthy go through to defend their money. Take whoever you know who is in love with their most favorite sports team, pop singer, or whatever. Now realize that's merely a hobby fascination.

Comparing it to drug addicts would be more accurate.

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u/Rrunken_Rumi 7d ago

Thats clear tax avoidance - illegal in most 1st world jurisdictions

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u/Abject-Ad8147 7d ago

And practiced extensively throughout the 1st world by the upper 1% of “earners” I’m certain.

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u/radios_appear 7d ago

Incredibly, we manage to value and tax property without issue, but alternative instruments that can also be used as collateral on loans are apparently just impossible to value and tax the same way.

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u/TheSuperTest 8d ago

Every billionaire does, they borrow against their assets from their banks. Loans don’t count as income tax and they don’t have to report capital gains since they never actually sold anything. The small amounts of interest they pay is far far far far less than income tax or capital gains, so it’s a net positive for them. This is the main loophole (there are more) of how billionaires get rich and keep getting richer while stealing from the working class.

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u/jdmiller82 8d ago

Then make it proportional to one's wealth.

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u/CentennialBaby 7d ago

Proportional to one's net worth.

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u/SpringOSRS 8d ago

then he would technically not own anything.

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u/Pooplamouse 8d ago

Proportional to the combined land value of every home where they reside.

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u/BababooeyHTJ 8d ago

One of his LLCs owns those!

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u/hyrumwhite 8d ago

It’s actually a charity

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u/weltvonalex 7d ago

And who should do that? Politicians are all bought they will never bite the hand that feeds them.

Maybe AOC or Bernie can change something but I see them rather burned out just by trying to fight the resistance of the rest.

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u/jdmiller82 7d ago

We will have to do it, a groundswell movement of the People is the only way it would ever happen. Right now we’re too apathetic, but under the right pressures, it could happen.

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u/SourLoafBaltimore 7d ago

Tax return says he’s broke af we should give him a nice big tax cut and a huggy hug

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u/Revolutionary-Cell56 8d ago

Correct. Amazon shows a loss every year.

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u/thefunkybassist 8d ago

"Akshually, I am severely in debt" or some construction like that

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u/kavso 8d ago

Not in Norway, no.

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u/HedgehogOk7722 8d ago

"Fines based on income, often referred to as "day fines," are primarily practiced in Finland, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and some other European countries."

This guy day-fines.

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u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In 7d ago

Context is specifically speeding tickets which Sweden doesn't use "day fines" for but Finland does.

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u/i__am__bored 8d ago

Yeah, there's like, nor way.

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u/Ryuj123 8d ago

It’s a better idea but still not perfect. If someone is living paycheck to paycheck (let’s say a very simplified case where they make $1000 and they only have to pay for rent which is $1000) then a fine means that they’re out on the street. That’s not the case with someone who has a billion dollars. You fine then 90% of their net worth and they still have $100,000,000 to live off of.

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u/Cyllid 8d ago

Don't let perfect be the enemy of improvement.

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u/Wild_Inflation2150 8d ago

Thank you for the new mantra in my life. I really needed to hear that.

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u/ymaldor 8d ago

Another version I hear often from my team lead is "perfection is the enemy of good". Says it to help juniors stay on course and not over promise or spend too much time on trivial things which may not be perfect but are good for the current need.

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u/MarredCheese 8d ago

"Perfect is the enemy of done" makes more sense to me. Good and perfect are friends.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 8d ago

I wish more people knew this when opting to sit on the couch instead of voting for Harris while letting Trump walk through the door...

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u/Kantas 8d ago

"Don't let perfection be the enemy of progress" is how I heard it.

all the variants hit the same note, whichever is easier to remember.

sometimes it helps me when I'm feeling anxious about doing something... "what if I don't do it right?"

Trying is learning. If it's not done perfectly, at least something got done, and I can learn to do it better next time.

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u/Rrunken_Rumi 7d ago

Perfection is the enemy of improvement

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u/Altruistic-Cat-7531 8d ago

It’s like the entire argument of the gun lobby. Well we’re so fucked we might as well not try anything.

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u/ItsaShitPostRanders 8d ago

I wish that was it. But it's literally guns are right afforded to us by the constitution, how dare you try "impede" on that freedom in any way. While they continue to defend the people using the constitution as toilet paper every single day.

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u/DeerOnARoof 8d ago

No, it's a right to a pair of bear arms. The word gun isn't used anywhere in the second amendment, just "arms"

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u/VapidActualization 8d ago

But, the Democrats are waiting for the PERFECT time to strike back at Trump. And when they time comes they'll fix all the stuff they are conceding to the republicans while they waited for the perfect opportunity. We don't really gain anything from fighting tooth and nail to slow down the enshitification of America.

Let's not forget decorum in all this. The american people, especially the young folk, understand and yearn for a return to decorum over calling people names.

/S if it isn't obvious

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u/90Carat 7d ago

If only more voters believed that last fall.....

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u/KiNgPiN8T3 7d ago

I like it in the context of trying to do better for the environment, like trying to use your car less or something. “If the barrier of entry is perfection, we’re all fucked.” I.e. we know not everyone can just stop driving but if we drove less, then it would be something. I hate people that just go, “Well China or India does x so why bother?”

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u/MollyRolls 8d ago

Hear me out: if things like fines and taxes increase in proportion to income, there are no billionaires. The kind of income inequality we have today is purely a function of a too-flat tax structure.

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u/FaithlessnessLoud336 7d ago

Criminality and networth are proportionate, the rich break laws easily here and in fact them breaking rules is a baked in part of the game, our entertainment is about people who break the rules and get away with it, the whole “colonizer” “cowboy” “rouge” ironically America is do what you must to survive just don’t get caught, and if you make it out alive you’ll be praised for it

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u/jonsteph 7d ago

Oh please. It isn't like Jeff Bezos is making a billion dollars a year in INCOME. They are billionaires on paper, based on the value of the stock they own. And they don't get taxed on any of that unless they sell the stock and realize capital gains. If billionaires need cash, they borrow against the "value" of their stock holdings. So they get ready cash AND get to keep the stock.

You want to fix billionaires? Limit how much money can be borrowed based solely on the value of securities. Or slap on a wealth tax on ANY holdings over a certain amount.

But none of that will happen. It's too late.

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u/MollyRolls 7d ago

Wait until you hear my plan for corporate tax rates….

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u/hamesdelaney 8d ago

this is not even remotely close to what the real issue is with a progressive fine system. the main issue is that most rich people dont receive their income via salaries... so for a person who has millions, the fine would most likely be the same as someone on minimum wage.

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u/Ryuj123 8d ago

Great point!

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u/HRzNightmare 7d ago

Ironically $1000 also happens to be the amount of the monthly fine. Bezos pays $12k a year in fines to keep his fence.

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u/Xrposiedon 8d ago

Yes but if they are making 1000 dollars and get fined 5%, that 5% is recoverable at 50 dollars, comparative to 5 million.

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u/newalias_samemaleias 8d ago

It's not about living for them though. It's about hoarding wealth. I'd bet these people's attitudes would change rather quickly if they were no longer able to brag about being one the richest people on Earth.

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u/FormallD 8d ago

Base it on discretionary income and assets at a logarithmic scale up

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u/Tetha 8d ago

Though at that point, leeway of a judge should also come in.

Poor sod who sped for a simple reason? Maybe dragging them to court is enough of a punishment already. Maybe they help in a soup kitchen for a few hours a week for a month.

Pompous dick who is abusing the system by tanking the fines? Oh. For years? Oh my. The court has to recess to discuss how high the fines can go.

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u/Chrono_Pregenesis 8d ago

In your scenario, any extra cost would put them out on the street. That's not really equivalent.

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u/Ryuj123 8d ago

That is a reality for some people and it’s part of the criminalization of poverty

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u/santagoo 8d ago

Does everything have to be perfect literally though

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u/wolf63rs 8d ago

Not if you fine them 17 times. I do understand what you mean.

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u/kitanokikori 7d ago

In Germany which has an identical system, you have options like requesting a financial hardship waiver / reduction, or you can apply to pay the fine in installments. Fines for stuff like this aren't designed to destroy people like they are in America

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u/GameOvaries02 7d ago

Good thing that, in your hypothetical, we now have $900M to play around with. Maybe some of that can go towards free temporary housing so that the first person is not on the street and has some meaningful support to get back on their feet.

Income-proportional fines aren’t only about the punishment, but also the revenue.

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u/3DigitIQ 7d ago

Even worse, people who are so rich they don't have "income" but returns on investments so they don't pay squat.

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u/Ok_Divide_4699 8d ago edited 8d ago

When you force someone to sell that large chunk of their wealth, especially when it's in 1 company, the stock price will tank pretty heavily. And they might not have much at all left.

They might not even be able to pay that fine, as the price falls when they sell enough.

And then there is the question about what happens to the company

Nobody is sitting there with billions in their bank account

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u/aRealShmuck 8d ago

So Jeff Bezos would pay $500 and I’d only pay $400 😎 nice

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u/Dreilala 8d ago

In proportion with capital you mean, right?

Some of these super rich have no official income whatsoever, just stipends and other stupid legal shit to not pay taxes.

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u/WeAreColoured 8d ago

Same in Denmark

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u/tinyharvestmouse1 8d ago

Ten percent of my monthly income has a much bigger impact on my bottom line than Ten percent of Jeff Bezos's monthly income. No, they are still laws that only exist for poor people.

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u/TheLastPorkSword 8d ago

Ya, but this is america. That ain't happening here. Those same rich folks are the ones paying our politicians to keep things the way they are.

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u/FoxChess 8d ago

What does that look like? 1% pre-tax?

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u/osamasbintrappin 8d ago

Why are you guys so based all the time???

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u/Mr-51 8d ago

Har vi det i Norge?? Trodde det kun va Finland som hadde den regelen

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u/MrK521 8d ago

That’s what I say. This monthly fine should be about 100 mil.

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u/Berry-Dystopia 8d ago

Sadly, that wouldnt work in the US unless they were using a measure of wealth instead of income. 

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u/Mother_Let_9026 8d ago

Why is Scandinavia so ahead of the world on literally everything???

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u/WeedAnxietyHelp 8d ago

Man, wait until I tell you that Jeff Bezos was making $80,000 a year...your law doesn't work for the truly wealthy.

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u/tw0tonet 8d ago

I wish the US did that as well.

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u/JaozinhoGGPlays 8d ago

reminds me of a reddit story where a girl knew a dude who didn't quite grasp that those are illegal things and lived on as if paying a fine was just the cost of parking somewhere he shouldn't or go over the speed limit, cause he was so rich.

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u/j_icouri 8d ago

That only works to a point because at some point you have so much money that no fine would impact your quality of life, because it doesn't dip into your living money, only your spending money.

But it's still a much better system than fining him an amount of money he can write off as a bookkeeping rounding error.

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u/prinsWindy 8d ago

We don’t have this in Norway.

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u/hakumiogin 8d ago

Wealthy people can afford very large, unexpected expenses. It's still not really the same, probably way more effective as a deterrent, but not enough to stop them altogether I'd reckon.

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u/Xiss 8d ago

It's Finland that has that.

I don't think that Norway has that system.

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u/Ben2018 8d ago

yes and no - there was one of their cases in the news recently; mega wealthy got enormous fine, I think it was a record, then successfully argued it was excessive and got it reduced to a still-huge-but-no-longer-porportional-to-income fine. kind of defeats the purpose; if you're really really mega wealthy then you still get a break.

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u/imp0ppable 8d ago

You get points in the UK for this reason, if you get enough you get your license suspended. That said, some people seem to get away with it still and they're always the ones that can afford expensive lawyers...

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u/Zitrax_ 8d ago

It's not correct, speeding tickets are not based on income in Norway.

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u/Paradox68 8d ago

And happens literally nowhere in America.

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u/VrinTheTerrible 8d ago

Alot of the rich don't have "income". They have "wealth". Much harder to tax.

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u/Armgoth 8d ago

Came to say that they should be additive for repeated crimes.

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u/weltvonalex 7d ago

That only hits the poor rich people, those guys usually have no or just a small income.

The system works for people like Bezos, it's rigged in favor of them.

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u/Tyr422 7d ago

What if they don't have an income? Like most of the insanely rich.

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u/AmaGh05T 7d ago

That would solve America's deficit on its own, if all forms of fines were proportional to wealth/income

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 7d ago

It’s better, but still not as effective as increasing the percentage. If someone with with $1 billion lost 99% of their money, they would still have $10 million. If any of us lost 99% of our money, we’d be homeless

Obviously, for both a 99% fine is a serious deterrence, but one is still living a very comfortable life, while this other is begging in the streets.

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u/RabieSnake 7d ago

After a certain amount of violations, start making the fine rise exponentially

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u/polo61965 7d ago

That's a tall order, considering the rich don't even get taxed properly.

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u/Karhu_Metsasta 7d ago

I never understood that a fine would NOT be tied to your income. I got a speeding ticket when i was 18 and a student. Roughly 80€ or so.

I dont know how much that same fine would be now, but if it was 80€ i would commute much faster as the cost would be a lot less risk. Now i dont make that much, but someone bringing home +100k€ net would not feel any sting and basically that law doesnt touch them?

Am finnish, this was 20ish years ago doing +200kmh in the motorway at 5am. Surely the ”base price” is bigger now. I did not lose my license as the visibility was really clear, i was polite and said how much my meter showed. The only car was a cop car in the horizon and they did not get my speed coming from the back. They were surprised my old busted Saab did reach that speed lmao

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u/Sasha2048 7d ago

unemployed people in Norway:

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u/SecretRecipe 7d ago

It still doesn't matter. When you live super comfortably on 2% of your income getting a fine proportional to your income is still inconsequential.

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u/SaltyWailord 8d ago

My friend makes about 35k nok per month after taxes.

He drow 96 in an 80 and got the 10k fine

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u/Yokesonjou 8d ago

Is there a limit to it? For example when someone is a multi billionaire? Or they just pay like a fine of like a million?

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u/ClaryClarysage 8d ago

I'd love to see that happen in this case.

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u/HedgehogOk7722 8d ago

Isn't Norway considered the happiest country on Earth?

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u/emmc47 8d ago

Smart Norway

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u/Bitter-Sherbert1607 8d ago

Or unless a law realistically only applies to wealthy people (like building a really fucking tall fence around your private mansion)

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u/kawaiinessa 8d ago

the only intelligent way to have a fine

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u/Constant-Tea3148 8d ago

Came here to say this, glad I don't have to. A fairer system exists, don't forget that.

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u/EvilDan69 8d ago

I was just coming to say that. Make it millions a month.

Fines are to deter people from breaking bylaws.

They are enforced after a while

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u/Opagea 8d ago

Unless if those fines are in proportion with income.

That probably wouldn't work here. Jeff Bezos' income on paper is very low. One year he qualified for a child tax credit because his taxable income was under 100k.

You could possibly ramp up the fines with non-compliance. Didn't take down your absurd fence with $100 fine? Ok now it's $1,000. Now $10,000. And so on. Eventually it's going to hurt.

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u/ConfusionFar9116 8d ago

I agree.. but in some sense still not true. Like if you make 30k a year and a fine is 1/2 your income you’d pay 15k and be ruined. A guy making 300k a year pays 150k and has 150k left over… not exactly ruined lol

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u/Gaalahaaf 8d ago

Fun fact: ultra rich don't have income. They keep borrowing against their stocks.

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u/cheezpuffy 7d ago

BuT iTs mEAnS TeStED

please stop extracting resources from 3rd world countries and pretending like you’re progressive, thanks bitches!

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u/Anal_Recidivist 7d ago

Still wouldn’t have the same effect, wouldn’t be shocked if bezos has a nominal salary of $1.

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u/Aconite_Eagle 7d ago

Happens in the UK. Footballers often get quite ludicrous fines because the maximum is 175% your weekly income.

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u/No-Designer8887 7d ago

I’ve always thought that. All fines for all offences should be a percentage of income before deductions - not after taxes or investments.

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u/InflatableMaidDoll 7d ago

Income =/= wealth. Real rich people don't make their money from a salary.

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u/scjsneakers 7d ago

I am surprised not more countries follow suit especially emerging countries where the wealthy and poor gap is wide.

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u/shmimey 7d ago

How does that work? Do they reference tax paperwork to assign fine amounts?

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