Making headlines in Sweden is the sentence imposed in a St. Gallen court that resulted in a £178,000 fine being handed out to a millionaire who clocked 137km/h in an area where the limit was 100km/h. It is notable given the fact the penalty is over twice as much as the previously highest fine.
Although most countries have fixed tariffs for penalties such as speeding violations, areas such as Scandinavia believe that when fining a victim their income should be taken into account to assure the fine is a relatively severe punishment.
The idea is that a set tariff may unfairly punish someone with a low income that cannot afford it, while at the same time a wealthy person will react to a set tariff as a simple slap on the wrist. Thus, with an adjustable income tariff all people are punished equally for breaking the law.
However, since Switzerland is attempting to become the hotspot for hedge funders, this raises the question of if wealthy people will simply hire a chauffeur to beat the speeding ticket for them and how adjusting the tariff will work if tax authorities do not give financial information to the police.
