The installation of a movable speed camera in the Jan van Galenstraat in West.Beeld ANP / ANP
In the Netherlands everyone gets the same fine. This creates inequality, argued UvA professor of law and economics Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci in Het Parool earlier this week. For some, the fine is too low to ‘feel’ it, while for others the fine can be financially disruptive. More and more countries are opting for fines that are geared to income, according to his research.
In the Netherlands, all fines are still the same for everyone: for minimum wage earners and millionaires, the fine for running a red light, for example, is 289 euros. These are often fines that are determined nationally, such as traffic fines. The municipality has no influence on that.
Fairer fines
According to PvdA party leader Lian Heinhuis, the municipality can adjust the fines imposed by the municipality itself or the amount of which is determined by the municipality. Think of taking out the garbage incorrectly. Heinhuis thinks that ‘unequal fines are fairer, will cause less unnecessary financial problems and will also have more effect’. The PvdA party wants the council to investigate the possibilities and wants to know which fines the municipality itself imposes and for which fines it is possible to charge different amounts.
More and more countries are introducing daily fines, according to Dari-Mattiacci’s inventory. Countries in almost all of Europe use it, with the exception of Italy, England, Belgium and the Netherlands. Finland (1921) and Sweden (1931) were the first. In 2019, countries (Greece and Angola) were added to the list of 43 countries for the last time.
About the author: Malika Sevil has been working for Het Parool for 25 years. She wrote a lot about healthcare, she also reported on the corona crisis. Since 2022 she has been writing about inequality of opportunity, poverty and the gap.
2023-07-27 18:24:12
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