[QUOTE=VTEC_Junkie,Sep 27 2006, 04:28 PM] even at the age of 16, taxes will affect

 

I don't recall advocating the idea; I certainly wouldn't advocate acting stupid.

Telling a police officer an unbelievable story qualifies as acting stupid.

My story was not only believable, it was true.

 

Lookie at what we won!

 

Well then, maybe the tickets were worth it.

 

i never insisted or believed that the purpose of traffic/parking violation fines are solely and/or mainly for the purpose of city revenue. you were the one that suggested that was the case. i merely argued that even if that was indeed the case, the cessation of revenue from parking/traffic violations will require alternative sources and methods of generating the lost revenues required for running the city. nevertheless, although revenue from parking/traffic violation fines are indeed essential, parking/traffic enforcement definitely serve a public interest, and in the case of traffic enforcement also serves a public safety purpose. like i said in an earlier post, the presence and threat of traffic enforcement instills the fear and incentive in most drivers that discourage them from performing too many intentional traffic violations. and this is important for public safety because without the fear and incentive, many drivers will choose to ignore traffic rules more requently, which makes the road unsafe because the driving behaviors of the drivers around us will become unpredictable and unanticipatable. and the reason why fines for traffic violations are necessary is because money, along with time and inconvience, are the most effective factors in detering people from certain behaviors. a traffic violation will not only cost you money in terms of a fine, but can potentially increase your insurance rates for years. also, it will cost you time for having to attend court and/or traffic school, and with enough violations will even cost you the inconvience of losing your driver's liscence and have to resort to other forms of less convient transportation. sure traffic enforcement does not and will not catch every single person who performs a violation each and every time, but again, the fear and incentive of avoiding the repurcusions,will significantly reduce the amount of violations performed than there otherwise would be without the presence and threat of traffic enforcement. this is similar to the idea that many folks refrain from taking the chance of cheating on their income tax return because even though the irs does not and cannot audit each and every single person every single year, the severe repurcussion for anyone who ever gets caught cheating is enough to discourge most from cheating.

as for "excise without representation", even though a 16 year old driver may not be an active voter, he/she nonetheless utilizes public facilities, including public roads, and benefit from public services. also, a minor is not necessarily unrepresented. a minor with active voting parents can have discussions with his/her parents about issues that concern him/her and persuade and/or influence them to vote a certain way and thus be indirectly represented. but regardless, just because an individual is not represented should not mean that he/she is exempt from having to pay taxes or other fees and fines. there are many legal immigrants who are not citizens and thus are not elligible voters. should they all be exempt from taxes, fees, and fines?? of course not. as long as they utilize and benefit from public facilities and/or services then it is completely justified to expect them to put in their contribution. as for the 16 year old driver, if he/she is so offended by having to pay traffic violatin fines when he/she is not "represented", then he/she can choose to not have a driver's liscence and not drive on public roads, and won't have to worry about the potential fines and be "excised without representation".

 

"Pay-to-play," especially when it comes to the privelege of driving is widely accepted. Why are traffic fines 'essential income?' Why is, as you're insinuating, my money going to support anything outside of roads and driving safety initiatives?

[QUOTE]parking/traffic enforcement definitely serve a public interest, and in the case of traffic enforcement also serves a public safety purpose.

 

Impugns.

 

Thanks man!