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Hit the rich harder Left-wing think-tank wants higher fines for wealthy drivers WEALTHY drivers who break traffic and parking rules should have to pay higher fines than offenders on lower incomes, a left-wing think-tank said yesterday. The Australia Institute said Australia should follow Britain and consider introducing a system of fines that was graded according to an offenders capacity to pay. Under the British proposal, some fines could be trebled or even quadrupled if an offender is a high income earner. The present Australian system of applying a flat fine to everyone imposed more pain on low-income people than it did on high-income earners, the Australia Institute said. “A speeding fine of $125 represents one third of the weekly income of someone earning $20,000 a year but only 6 per cent of the weekly income of someone with an income of $100,000,” institute director Dr Clive Hamilton said. Some rich Australians consciously broke the law because the fines did not impact on their lifestyle, he said. “Well-heeled drivers from the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman have been reported to dismiss fines as only pocket money to us,” he said. “On the other hand a $68 parking ticket could cause serious distress to a student or pensioner.” But NSW motoring group the NRMA is against the proposed system, saying it would do nothing to prevent people breaking the law. “Traffic fines are designed to deter motorists from doing the wrong thing,” the NRMA said. “Reducing the fine for some motorists could make the penalties less of a deterrent. “This system may also be difficult to administer and to accurately determine what level of fine a motorist should pay.” The ACT Government agreed, with a spokeswoman for Deputy Chief Minister Mr Ted Quinlan saying it would be virtually impossible to run. “The recording of income is not necessarily a true reflection of what people earn and it will be virtually impossible to ad
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