Taxes, cops, and Alfas.

[Gary Stark <redbakstark@domain.elided>]

Charlie,

While not wishing to start any sort of a flame war ...

> course they will find something to write a profit-
> making citation for. 

It's a cop thing, I think.

Having lived in California, Texas, and Australia, I
suppose I'm somewhat better qualified to comment on
these issues than most others may be.

> The whole thing is not about safety but about 
> control and money.  

Agree 100%

If speeding is so damn dangerous, then why do they
fine somebody when caught? Surely something so
dangerous requires the removal of driving privileges?

> I guess TX hasn't caught up with that stuff yet.  Do

> they have hidden cameras at freeway onramps and key 
> intersections photographic 

Not as far as I could tell, up to February last when I
moved back to Sydney.

However ...

My experiences were that the cops around Dallas were
very hungry. I can recall seeing 4 cops at the one
intersection. One each on a bike, each one waiting on
one corner of the intersection, presumably to catch
somebody running a red light. 

Fair enough; running a light is dangerous, but 4 cops
at the one intersection ???

When living in Modesto California I can recall seeing
3 cops - again on bikes - lined up in the parking lot
of a strip mall ready to catch speeding drivers
cruising down the (very wide) main drag of the city.
The speed limit on this street changed 3 times within
about two miles ...

In both cities I have been witness to cops "hiding" to
catch speeders ... 

Ok ... Sydney ... we have a multitude of red light
cameras, plus speed cameras, plus the usual plethora
of radar traps, frequently placed towards the bottom
of a hill on a freeway.

But the cops in Oz generally seem to have a friendlier
attitude about them. My observations are that in the
US the cops' focus is on enforcement, such that they
must ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, write a ticket.

I remember seeing one instance in Dallas where the cop
was writing one ticket for illegal parking to one
person, when a second miscreant returned to their car
to drive off. The cop actually ran back to this second
car, instructing them to wait so he could write them a
ticket.

In Sydney, the emphasis is on compliance: they will
ask you to move on, rather than write the ticket in
the first instance. If you refuse, or if you're not
around your car, then they'll write you up, but I've
seen cops asking people if they know the owner of the
vehicle rather than just simply raise the revenue. 

Er, I mean write the ticket. <g>

> Do they stop you for cracked tail lights and the 
> like?  Do they enforce these things selectively 
> according to race, age, and type of vehicle?

In all three places, yes. 

> In some places, an Alfa is enough of a red flag, 
> even if you're hardly speeding at all.

Hardly speeding at all ??? Suggests to me that you ARE
speeding though ... :)

> Laws like these are passed in CA to try to make up 

Not just in CA. 

> caused by the frenzy of the locals to reduce 
> ordinary taxes.  Our friends in places like England 
> and the Scandinavian countries would choke on their
> tea and herring if they got wind of the tax programs

> we have here.

While taxes in CA are higher than in TX, when I hear
Americans talking about their high rates of taxes, it
pretty well makes me laugh my head off. 

Although things in Oz are changing, they're currently
pretty nasty. The luxury tax on cars in the US comes
in at around US$80k, I think. I may well be out in
that figure, but in Oz it comes in at around AUS$56K.
That's on top of the current 32% wholesale sales tax. 

Income taxes ... In Oz, the top tax rate - a bit under
50% - comes in at around Aus$50K salary. I think the
top rate in the US is substantially lower (39%?), and
doesn't kick in until around US$230K.


Putting that into an Alfa perpective, when the
Milano/75 was available (1988), the respective new
prices in each country were something like around
US$18K for a Milano, but Aus$47K for a 75TS.

Not all of the difference was taxes of course, but it
made up a substantial part of it.



g.                      79 Alfetta Sedan
Gary Stark              69 1750 GTV (resting)
gstark@domain.elided  99 Holden Barina (POS)
http://redbacksWeb.com  
Back down under in Sydney, Oz.



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