Front page headlines - Councils set to fine dog owners $300 if they are caught walking their dog, without a plastic bag to pick up the dog poo. A serious fine for a very serious crime.
Here's a partial list of current council fines:
1. Serious crime of no plastic bag in the vicinity of a dog: $300
2. Serious crime of no dog tag in vicinity of a dog : $300-$1500 plus registration fees
3. Serious crime of failing to notify Council of dead dog: $100
4. Serious crime of having puppy off a leash in public (5m from your gate): $500
5. Serious crime of dog being found without owner present: shot and dumped in a pit (free)
And just so you don't think the Council hates dogs:
6. Serious crime of placing rubbish in a rubbish bin: $100 (now $400)
7. Wearing the wrong clothes (in spite of the council funded "it's what's underneath that counts"): $2000 (however, fines may accumulate for up to 10 years before being written off for non-payment)
This contrasts with minor misdemeanors such as:
Third conviction for drunk driving, children in car: 350 hours community work.
Trashing seven letterboxes in one night: $246
Burglary from former employers: $80 plus 75 hours community work.
Female assaulting male partner: nine months supervision.
Female savagely assaulting pregnant flatmate: 120 hours community work.
Failing to perform community work sentence: Asked again.
Breaching post-detention conditions: Added to list of convictions, no fine.
Driving whilst license suspended: $500
The way it seems to me is that the bad guys don't pay. The rich (my definition, not a socialists definition) don't care. The laws multiply and middle class NZ are left paying disproportionate fines under an increasingly fascist bureaucracy.
Related Link: In the courts
Here's a partial list of current council fines:
1. Serious crime of no plastic bag in the vicinity of a dog: $300
2. Serious crime of no dog tag in vicinity of a dog : $300-$1500 plus registration fees
3. Serious crime of failing to notify Council of dead dog: $100
4. Serious crime of having puppy off a leash in public (5m from your gate): $500
5. Serious crime of dog being found without owner present: shot and dumped in a pit (free)
And just so you don't think the Council hates dogs:
6. Serious crime of placing rubbish in a rubbish bin: $100 (now $400)
7. Wearing the wrong clothes (in spite of the council funded "it's what's underneath that counts"): $2000 (however, fines may accumulate for up to 10 years before being written off for non-payment)
This contrasts with minor misdemeanors such as:
Third conviction for drunk driving, children in car: 350 hours community work.
Trashing seven letterboxes in one night: $246
Burglary from former employers: $80 plus 75 hours community work.
Female assaulting male partner: nine months supervision.
Female savagely assaulting pregnant flatmate: 120 hours community work.
Failing to perform community work sentence: Asked again.
Breaching post-detention conditions: Added to list of convictions, no fine.
Driving whilst license suspended: $500
The way it seems to me is that the bad guys don't pay. The rich (my definition, not a socialists definition) don't care. The laws multiply and middle class NZ are left paying disproportionate fines under an increasingly fascist bureaucracy.
Related Link: In the courts
"The laws multiply and middle class NZ are left paying disproportionate fines under an increasingly fascist bureaucracy."
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
Yep, fines are big business in the western world. You can be fined for just about anything they can think of and they don't give a rats ass what your situation is, a lot of them have this option of writing a letter to appeal and all that, but that's all bullshit. The plain truth is that they don't give a stuff, cold, greedy, fascist bastards, the lot of them.
ReplyDelete