If You Double-Park and You’re Rich, Should You Pay a Higher Fine?

Civil violations like littering or idling could be subject to sliding-scale fines under a City Council bill aimed at easing the affordability crisis

By Eliza Shapiro of The NY Times. Excerpts:

"A few months ago, a rumor started spreading through the leafy streets of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and eventually made its way to the local city councilman, Justin Brannan. Mr. Brannan’s constituents, he said, complained that someone had built an illegal driveway next to their home by drilling through the concrete sidewalk.

The homeowner was telling neighbors that simply paying the fines was more affordable than a parking spot, and less of a hassle than street parking.

Mr. Brannan, who has narrowly won elections in his swing district on a message of making New York City more affordable for middle-class families, said he had the story in mind when he started drafting a bill that would require City Hall to come up with a pilot program to charge wealthy New Yorkers more than their lower-income neighbors for civil violations like building that driveway.

The sliding-scale idea, known as a day-fine program, would mean that some fines would be charged in proportion to an individual’s income on civil offenses that could include littering, double parking, idling in a car or truck or open container violations, which currently carry fines ranging from $50 to a few hundred dollars.

It is not yet clear what the formula for the new fines would be and how much the penalties would cost, since the details of the pilot would be decided by city officials."

Versions of the day-fine program have been used for decades in some European countries, along with Maricopa County, Ariz., and Bridgeport, Conn. But where other day-fine programs, including a one-year program tried on Staten Island in the 1980s, have largely focused on fines related to felonies or misdemeanors, Mr. Brannan’s bill would only apply to civil offenses."

"Studies have shown that day-fine programs typically lead to more people actually paying their fines, in part because penalties that were once out of reach for low-income and middle-class residents become more manageable."

Related post:

$60,000 fine for driving14 mph over the speed limit (2015) (Finland's speeding fines are based on a percentage of daily income, so the higher your income the higher your fine)