Let criminals buy their way out of jail?

[pErvinalia]

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has proposed a new way to broaden Australia's tax base - allowing convicted criminals to buy their way out of jail.

In a column for Australian Resources and Investment magazine, Mrs Rinehart says the Government should consider letting non-violent offenders pay to get out of prison - or pay to avoid serving time altogether - because Australia needs more workers and taxpayers as the population ages.

In the column, entitled entitled 'Learning from my Europe trip', Mrs Rinehart - Australia’s richest person – suggests non-violent offenders who cannot afford to pay could agree to give up their voting rights or passport for a nominated period of time.

Citing a model she says is used in the US state of Texas to reduce the number of people imprisoned at taxpayers' expense, she wrote: "Let them pay to get out of prison or not enter prison [a new source of revenue], and let them be part of the tax-paying workforce. Texas has shown us a far more humane, cost-improved and more successful ways of dealing with non-violent prisoners."

She continues: "And before the left media shrieks that this would only benefit the richer, non-violent prisoners, for those non-violent prisoners who couldn't pay sufficiently to get out of prison, there could be other means, such as should they agree to give up their votes, and or passports for x years, depending on the seriousness of the respective non-violent crime, they could then leave prison and rejoin the workforce."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-06/g ... ls/4940370

[laklak]

Most places already do that. Try not paying income tax and see what happens.

[JimC]

In some circumstances, one already has an option of either paying a fine or going to jail...

[pErvinalia]

What do you mean "most places already do that"? Are you referring to fines? I imagine this is meant over and above fines.

[laklak]

No, I mean income tax. If you don't pay it they come get you and put you in jail, pay up and you stay out. It's a pre-offense extortion racket. Nice place you got here, shame if something happened to it....

[JimC]

No, I mean income tax. If you don't pay it they come get you and put you in jail, pay up and you stay out. It's a pre-offense extortion racket. Nice place you got here, shame if something happened to it....

I view income tax as a fee-for-service that taxpayers provide governments to pay for infra-structure and various services such as police and defence...

The question of whether it is excessive, or efficiently managed, is quite another thing...

[Tyrannical]

You can scale fines based on income. Some guy in Europe got a ~$100K speeding ticket because the penalty was 1% of income or some such.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

You can buy your way out of jail - it's called "hiring an expensive lawyer".

[Clinton Huxley]

So a rich person could buy their way out and a poor person could get out by disenfranchising themselves. She sounds like an ass.

[Audley Strange]

No, I mean income tax. If you don't pay it they come get you and put you in jail, pay up and you stay out. It's a pre-offense extortion racket. Nice place you got here, shame if something happened to it....

Not here, I know a taxi driver that got 3 years and had to pay it all as well.

[mistermack]

I don't think fining people a portion of their income is good enough.
You should be looking at their assets, not just their income.

Anyway, many serious criminals don't declare their income, or their assets, so could probably get away with very little.

Prison works. I have some sympathy with a sentence of prison plus fines fines related to assets.
If you don't pay the fines, you don't get any remission. Especially for financial crimes involving criminal gain.

What amazes me is the lenient penalties for fraud. They want jacking up by a huge amount. Money crime is the growing industry, and it's hardly surprising, considering the tiny risk involved.

[Tyrannical]

No, I mean income tax. If you don't pay it they come get you and put you in jail, pay up and you stay out. It's a pre-offense extortion racket. Nice place you got here, shame if something happened to it....

Not here, I know a taxi driver that got 3 years and had to pay it all as well.

I think this brief scene from Breaking Bad will clear up the severity of tax crime.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

So Australia's richest person would like to see a system that enables people to buy themselves out of jail time. Hmmm... Makes you wonder what court cases she might have in the pipeline, doesn't it?

[laklak]

Many countries already have a similar system, it's called "bribery".

[MrJonno]

You can scale fines based on income. Some guy in Europe got a ~$100K speeding ticket because the penalty was 1% of income or some such.

You mean there are any countries that fine someone something they can't possibly afford?, I think we once fined someone in the UK £200 and they had to pay it back at £1 per month for the next 15 years or so