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Seriously amazing how many people are smoking pot and driving, driving without insurance, driving with out paying the car tax (this is in England) driving a car and never getting it registered in England because they came from some other country or work in another country
Seriously amazing how many people are smoking pot and driving, driving without insurance, driving with out paying the car tax (this is in England) driving a car and never getting it registered in England because they came from some other country or work in another country
Denmark has a central database, where all legal residents are supposed to register their address. One also has a 10-digit code, akin to a social security number - except you don't apply foor it, but they give it to you whether you want it or not. It is used for just about anything but paying for groceries. My American wife cried when she got hers...
ReplyDeleteCar insurance is mandatory, and if you fail to keep it up they come to cut your license plates off the car. They know where you live, remember?
Get caught driving a foreign reg'd car while a resident of Denmark, and they make you pay the so-called 'registration fee', which is added to the cost of the car when imported (app. 200% of the value of the car). Plus you get to pay a fine of that amount too, so unsurprisingly not that many take the risk.
In any case, if you're injured in a traffic accident with an uninsured driver (extremely unlikely, but still), the state covers the cost of your rehabilitation, or disability pension.
It's a hard choice of what is enough govt oversight for safety and enforcement of insurance, and what is too much desk jockey paper pushers just making life difficult for tax payers. I'm heavy in favor of required insurance, but not registration fees. That is just overcharging to do data entry. As for govt tracking everything a citizen does, not cool. That's how Hitler got the Austrians and Germans to fall. That injuries and medical rehab is covered, well that is amazing
DeleteGovernment tracking in Denmark is more efficient than most other countries in the world. It is, on the other hand, widely accepted, as there's a high level of transparency and trust, and virtually no corruption. Having lived stateside for 4 years, I'm probably less trustful of authorities than most of my fellow Danes, but I grudgingly accept that the system by and large works.
DeleteAs for the 'registration fee', it is merely a way of collecting the taxes neccessary to run a welfare state. I'm low income and in the 51% tax bracket, whereas higher incomes usually take advantage of all kind of deductions, and also end up paying app. 50%.
It is psychologically difficult to demand more than half of an income in taxes, so funding of the welfare state has to come from other indirect taxes, like a 25% sales tax or that on car imports. (Denmark has no car production to speak of).
In the end it's the usual give-and-take, both concerning what the government knows about you, and how you're taxed & what you get for it. Considering Danes regularly score very high or highest on how happy people in different countries are with their lives, the balance seems to work.
I'm glad you've weighed in, and with life experience in both the USA and Denmark to add perspective! Darn right it's hard to require more than half the income in taxes!
Deleteheres a link to an outrageous story of crooked cops and judges thats local to me.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/grantville-judge-dismisses-1590-fine-for-no-decal/nrcTG/
the max fine for any traffic misdemeanor in GA is $1000 and this podunk hick burg charges $750 for failure to display a current tag decal, even though its been paid for and was in possession of the driver.
but soon as its on the news, the judge dismisses the case.