I was just reading about a violation of the Canadian fisheries act that has a maximum penalty of $200k, and realized the absurdity of there ever being a maximum fine.

There should be no maximum fine on any corporate penalty given that we do not cap the size of corporations or their bank accounts.

It would be like having maximum jail terms of 25 years for immortal beings that can live to 10,000.

  • Krauerking@lemy.lol
    3·
    2 days ago

    I saw a comment suggesting companies should “go to jail” like a criminal would, and you have them limit how much they are allowed to interact with the public world until their sentence is up.

    I think it’s a pretty interesting way to deal with it. It makes sense for retribution and it forces companies to have cash on hand to cover costs while “locked up” to cover costs. It would really make businesses risk averse.

  • JelleWho@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 days ago

    Corporate fines should be in % of the company income.

    I would also argue that personal fines should be like that too.

    • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      All fines should be a percentage of income. Otherwise we have what we call a poor tax on people who can’t afford it, and “the price of doing business” for people who can. And I’m not referring to just companies.

      • jtrek@startrek.website
        1·
        2 days ago

        It has to be worth, not just income. There’s too many loopholes around “I don’t have income I just have stock I use as collateral for a loan” or “I don’t have income but my LLC happens to pay for all of my daily expenses”.

        But yes, all fines need to scale with the perpetrator. The more dollars you have, the less each dollar means.

        A $100 ticket for parking on a crosswalk means nothing to a millionaire, but is potentially ruinous for someone living in poverty. It needs to hurt the same for everyone. The millionaire should have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. They need to feel pain.

        A lot of people are really shitty and operate at a very basic level of moral reasoning. It’s just “did I get punished?”.

        • Janx@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          I don’t have income but my LLC happens to pay for all of my daily expenses

          That’s income. Not according to tax laws, but that’s also why we shouldn’t base monetary penalties on tax law. These fuckers have been exploiting the loopholes to have the most money and power and also pay almost nothing. But they still eat! And grocery stores don’t accept leveraged loans, securities, Bitcoin, or percentages of annuities… At some point, they touch money. So let’s tax (and penalize) them so they can’t avoid paying their fair share.