The high income earner pays more taxes is questionable. Most homes are taxed at 70 % of their value. The taxes on the sale of stock is on about 50% of the profit. The people making less than 90,000 pays social security on all their wages & the excess is being used as tax money. Some exectuives are finished paying their social security in 2 hours & that gives them an extra 7% There should be a flat tax about 15 % on all income with just 2 exclushions, $15,000 per person & no tax on the sale of your principle residence. Sales taxes are sinfull as most Americans have to spend all their income just to exist.

More Class Warfare bull crap!

When will the ignorant class warfare warriors learn that level of income has nothing to do with the ability to pay. Cash flow means everything. The multi-millionaire may have a bigger budget, but if their cost of living exceeds their income, they actually have less ability to pay than the guy who makes $20,000 a year, but yearly expenses come to $18,000.

First let me ask, did you just get a ticket? Seems like something someone upset over a ticket would write. In any event I have to disagree. First of all I think and equal PERCENTAGE is more "equal" than an equal fixed number as far as the "equal under the law" (and similarly I think a flat sales tax is more equal or fair than the current income tax system.) Also since they obviously CAN tax unequally I don't see why they wouldn't be able to fine unequally. I also think it's supposed to be "equal PROTECTION under the law" and in that case you aren't the one being protected when you get a speeding ticket anyway, they're protecting everyone else from you so it really doesn't apply. By discouraging you from speeding they are protecting the safety of everyone on the road, rich or poor. I am curious as to how they figure what to base the fine on though, I mean do they look at your prior year tax returns, does it go off your salary (don't some insanely rich CEO's just make like $1 salaries?) As for wealthy people having effectively less freedom if officers spend more time in wealthier parts of town I just don't see how that holds up. Right now they spend most of their time in low income areas so I guess that means low income people already have "effectively less freedom" than the wealthy. I don't really believe that but I think it's similar to your point. Finally on the issue of the rich paying more in taxes and having to drive the same roads the once again it depends on if you're talking about percentage of their income of flat numbers, I contend that the percentage is a more equal value. In any case though it seems to me as it's the same type of thing as me having to pay for your kids to go to school. I don't have kids, I'll likely never have kids, and so I shouldn't have to pay any tax that goes to public schools, especially if I went to a private one that didn't recieve any public funds. Again, I don't necessarily believe that but the point is that sometimes, as a member of a community, you just have to suck it up and pay for the community interest. It might not always seem "fair" but I certainly don't think it's unconstitutional.

Scandinavia seems to be the place where most of my annoyances are born. It never fails that when you get into an argument with someone, they beat you over the head with some small, backwards Scandinavian country. Crime rate? Drug legalization? Social Programs?

Granted, if I tried to condemn the social problems of, say, China by comparing it to Connecticut, those same people would be the first to protest the statistical flaw in the argument. Like France and the rest, I think they are very valid within their own borders, but outside that their ideals are vastly overrated.

Punitive action should be the most stern against people that are the most problem. If they think the top 5% or so of the population is getting the vast majority of tickets, I could see this. That doesn't ring true to me. In the US I think our car insurance bills do a lot more to promote safe driving. Sure, a $50 ticket is not to painful, but an extra $50 a month is to most people that speed.