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A comment on Court upholds $573k penalty against CA homeowner who fixed cars in backyard. Parent comment

Re:Court upholds $573k penalty against CA homeowner who fixe... by goldcd on Saturday June 04, 2022 @07:49PM (#31626385)
But the problem with caps, is that people hit them.

As a hypothetical, imagine a polluting plant poisoning the neighbourhood. You want them to know once their fine gets to $1M it's capped? You've suddenly presented a clear choice to the plant - fix it if it'll cost less than $1M, if it'll cost more keep ignore.

If you're going to fine anybody "per unit of time", you have to keep it open-ended (as otherwise the only people who'll ignore you, are those making more profit per day, than the per day cost)

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Re:Court upholds $573k penalty against CA homeowner who fixe... by Clubber on Saturday June 04, 2022 @10:27PM (#31627367)
It's not an all or nothing thing. You can cap some fines and not others obviously. Fining someone $573,000 for having vehicles in his back yard and working on them is ludicrous and absolutely makes the government look like either a bully, out of touch with reality, incompetent, or all of the above.
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