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FINES BASED ON INCOME

Posted by Jeff Rees on January 21, 2008 8:53 AM | 

A millionaire real-estate magnate and art dealer from Setesdal in southern Norway has been fined NOK 425,000 (USD 85,000) for drunk driving, and been further required to chop wood for 30 days.
In the fall of 2006, Kjetil Uleberg, 55, had enjoyed an evening with his friends drinking red wine until past midnight. The next morning, he got into his car to drive to a business meeting. When he was stopped by the police, he was required to take a breath test, which showed him to have a blood alcohol level of 0.7. The legal limit in Norway is 0.2.
In Norway, fines for drunk driving are based on the driver’s income, which meant Uleberg ended up with a whopper of a bill for his hangover.

A model of Criminal Justice worthy of consideration for Wales. The powers to decide the size of fines for crimes committed in Wales must be transferred to the Senedd.


 

Comments (2)

Normal Mouth wrote...

As I recall, this was tried by the Tories back in the 1990s (Unit Fines, I think they called it).

It ended after people who failed to complete the income declaration form were hit with the default maximum fine.

Interesting to know how Norway get around this

Posted by: Normal Mouth  | January 21, 2008 1:49 PM

Jeff Rees wrote...

In 2005 Labour proposed a scheme for calculating fines that would take into account an offender's income in the Management of Offenders Bill.

Income based fines operate throughout Scandinavia, as an example:

"A fine is a punishment consisting of paying a specified sum to the state. A fine is passed as unit fines (also known as day-fines). Their minimum number is 1 and the maximum 120 (1-240 for several offences). The amount of a unit fine is based on taxation data on monthly income after the EUR 225 deduction for basic consumption. One unit fine equals 1/60 of monthly income. Maintenance liability lowers the amount by EUR 3 per person. Taxable property of at least EUR 85,000 increases the amount of the unit fine by EUR 3, and taxable property of at least EUR 170,000 by EUR 6. The lowest possible unit fine is EUR 6. The total amount of the fine is the number of unit fines times the amount of a unit fine, but a fine for speeding must always equal at least the highest possible summary penal fee passed for speeding."

Posted by: Jeff Rees  | January 21, 2008 2:22 PM

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