As Australians we often take for granted the extensive public services that we receive for a subsidised or free price. What we sometimes forget is how these services are being paid for and by whom. Like every state and territory in Australia, a significant proportion of the annual budget is paid for by revenue received through fines. The regulations and laws from which these fines derive limit our freedom and restrict the kinds of choices we can make in life. In New South Wales the extent of this restriction reached $463 million in the 2015/16 financial year. This leads one to question the efficacy and motivations behind the existence of these fines.

The table and graph below display the amount of revenue from fines during the financial years 2011/12 to 2016/17. The obvious trend is that each year fine revenue increases by a significant percentage. Within the five years from 2011/12 to 2015/16 there was a 32% increase in fine revenue.

*The 2016/17 financial year only includes months July to November of 2016

To try and identify a cause for such a high increase in fine revenue, the NSW population growth rate and inflation rate were collected and listed in the table below. It was found that only a relatively small population and inflation growth rate existed between these years. The reason behind this high increase in fine revenue is therefore dubious. It leads one to question whether this derives from people in NSW performing finable actions more often or due to increasing revenue raising efforts.

It is often debated that these regulations and laws are intended for the safety of the public. However, the cost of this intention is that our choices and freedoms are severely limited. When we see $463 million (approximately $200 from each household) of the state’s revenue coming from fines alone, it signifies the extent of restriction on our freedoms. Below is a list of only a few of these prior freedoms that are deemed ‘illegal’.

It may also be the case that the revenue raised through these fines are merely a substitution for increasing taxes. Tax hikes are unpopular and by implementing more regulation and laws that subject the individual to fines, the government can avoid such unpopularity. In 2015/16, an average $200 is furtively extracted from each household. At times, there are government actions that lead to increased electricity, grocery and transport prices – which often leads to public outrage. However, there is almost no discussion surrounding the increase of fines and the financial burden this puts on Australians.

It is clear that over-regulation and prohibition of our personal freedoms have gone overboard. Making choices for ourselves are prohibited even when there is clearly no risk of harm to another person. We should therefore ask ourselves whether these fines are in our best interest. For if we remain content with this way of thinking, we will continue on this slippery slope of overregulation.

Nathan Dyson is an intern at The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance

Notes :

*All information relating to population and CPI rates was collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics

* All information relating to fines revenue was collected from the NSW Office of State Revenue