How are fines different from extortion?

It is unfortunate that one of the costs of owning a car in the city is that, in addition to paying rent, you have to also rent a home for your car. That’s a condition for urban living. Onstreet parking is meant to be temporary, because there are more cars coming into a city on a part-time basis than there are part-time parking spots. Fines are stiff to encourage you to pay for a monthly spot.

The choices seem to be:
1) keep a car and pay for a monthly spot near your residence.
2) Park further away from where you live, get cheaper parking, and ride public transportation back and forth to your car
3) Don’t own a car
4) Move to the suburbs, where you really need a car
5) Park illegally and pay the fines.

Most of the people that I know that live in east coast urban areas choose #2. Having a car can be a real pain in the city.

http://www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/content/view/72/27/

^doesn’t answer your question. sorry^

@kevbo: Yeah, but it’s completely true. Like, what the fuck is going on with speeding tickets to begin with. We could EASILY implement technology restricting speeds on any road at any time. Or technology that automatically reports you for exceeding the speed limit. Or a hundred other fucking things instead of this idiotic system. Speeding tickets are a gigantic fucking scam. There has to be something we, as a society, can do about this….

Fines are revenue sources. Another way to look at government agency fines is selectively applied taxes. As for banks, they are now legalized pirates, plain and simple.

Sorry for your troubles. If the removal was not legal, I would get a lawyer and go for best possible recovery.

@nikipedia, I think the best we can do for the moment is become educated on the outs. From what I’ve read, “contract law is the only law” and “If there is no contract there is no case.” So the remedy for the average citizen is to learn how to avoid entering into contract with representatives of statutory or administrative enforcement and/or to learn how to legally extricate oneself from a contract. I don’t even know how to do it nor have I had an opportunity to try it out, but it makes sense.

Boy, that totally sucks!!!

If the apartment complex was wrong in having your car towed, they should certainly have to reimburse you, but unfortunately it will probably take a long time and a good lawyer to get your money back. Was your car parked in the wrong spot or something?

I live in a huge condo development, and the idiots who built it weren’t thinking when they alloted only 1 and a half spaces per unit, so parking it a huge problem here. They have towed cars out with no warning, been sued and had to pay the owners both for the impound fees, and rental charges for those who rented a car until the issue was resolved.

Fines in general are meant to be a deterent, and supposedly the money goes for some type of improvement, which isn’t evident to me. But in the long run, I’d rather pay a parking ticket than do jail time for the infraction. It sucks. I hope you get your car back without too much of a hassle.

Fines – legal (but certainly questionable in many cases)

Extortion – illegal

Fines usually arise from agreeing to the terms or conditions that cause the fines to exist. Such as signing up for a library, you agree to the fines if books are kept out for longer than the terms state.

Extortion on the other hand arises from no contract. Extortion is a person trying to manipulate you into giving them money.

While tow truck companies may seem like extortion, and often act in a way similar to extortioners, one can argue that they are not because they are used to enforce a contract.

In your case, you agreed to the terms of parking when you signed with your landlord. Presumably you have been upholding your side of the agreement. Thus, the current situation of having your car towed is completely unwarranted, and you should demand compensation from your landlord.

Yes, speeding tickets are a scam (more so are the red light cameras which have been proven to increase accidents at intersections while increasing revenue for the city). But most humans are idiots and the only thing they understand (or are motivated by) is a financial punishment. So to eliminate fines, you would need to create a culture of humans who had respect for each other enough to not need such laws to behave properly. I’ve managed thus far to create such a group numbering about 10. Far from what a self supporting society needs.

As to your question 2, well I have no real idea apart from physically destroying the bureaucracy. I’ve yet to find a solution that doesn’t involve molotovs though. I would voice my objection at the terms and fight to have them changed, and if they weren’t changed I would then patronize a different business. Just like how stupid humans understand fines and money, stupid businesses also understand fines and money, so the only real way of getting through to them is by not giving them your money.

Extortion is getting someone to make payments, by threat or implication of violence.
Fines are payments for breaking rules.
Impounding your car is like material capture and ransom.
Fines and impounding can be reasonably applied and make sense, or they can be abusively and incompetently applied. If the story is clearly abusive enough, you might have an option in going to the entertainment/news media.

I think health insurance is closer to extortion than fines – pay now (and give us all your personal information) or when you get sick, we won’t heal you, or you’ll have to pay through the nose.