I understand your frustration, but the law does not exist ONLY (or at all, if I'm being honest) for power and profit. The law exists to provide each person with a baseline to guide their interactions, whether it be between them and other individuals, or between them and their government.

Now, obviously you have abuses and especially when some in the government/beaurocracy find out they can get funds by abusing their authority (e.g. civil asset forfeiture), but that's not why the law exists, and it doesn't happen everywhere. That's just a symptom of a lack of oversight by we, the people (chiefly).

Jail time and a permanent record is more punishment than it sounds. It severely affects future employment, even things like renting an apartment or getting a car loan (the ubiquitous background checks are done to weed such people out).

So your argument is that it is not the fault of the people who are paid to do this job, out of our tax money, but it is somehow our fault, even though your average person has literally no input whatsoever into any of this?

That's just false.

I mean, almost 90% of Americans live in a non-swing state where their vote is entirely meaningless.

Sigh, another kid who has not faced life.

Fines, taxes and some big companies appear there.

It hasn't been a loophole for years (fringe benefits tax took care of that), but many older people still do it anyway.

Not taxes though. My tax is automatically deducted from my salary and paid by my employer every month. All employers do this.

I guess it's for those cases you use the Pay Taxes option in my banks app. I've used it a few times and it's really useful

You can also pay them by credit or debit card online, but there is a small processing fee for doing so.

Even many third world countries offer that...

The Government want you to use cash only when it's convenient for them....

Suspended license driving is anti-social. Any law with a firm cutoff or deadline, and no gradual increase of penalty, sucks for those who barely miss complying with it. There needs to be some kind of consequence, though.

No, there just need to be better laws - or at least, more fit to the "crime" response.

In fact, if he was indeed "5 mph above the speed limit" he shouldn't even have been fined in the first place.

Police can and should use discretion (and they often/mostly do, this was just a shitty move in a shitty district).

Not to mention that, even given the fine was ok, there should have been an online/bank transfer way to pay...

If so, why would him having a debt to the state matter? Clearly him mailing the cash or not wouldn't change his risk profile for driving.

The anti-social thing here is to leverage what is ostensibly a safety concern into a tool of compliance.

As I alluded to, a gradual system of consequences building to suspension, or some other method of easing into or helping avoid the penalty state, would be more fair, especially for light offenses like the OP’s.

That does not change that we expect people not to drive on public roads when they’re barred from using them.

I'm not sure it's conveinient for that crowd either. It's always puzzled me how you were expected to make it to government offices open roughly 9-5 while most people work those same hours.