Coincidentally, the parking violations in San Francisco are reportedly the most expensive in the nation , at $ 74 . The next in line was Beverly Hills at $ 70 ( I was apparently wrong about $ 95 , but subsequently found out that includes the " court handling " processing charges they impose on the fine , regardless whether you go to court or not ) then down to only $ 65 for New York ( Manhattan ) and then all the way down to $ 25 in Boston . Boston surprises me given the rather limited places to park as I recall from many years ago when I was last there. There is now also a measure in SF up for city leaders vote, recommending lowering the fees for poor people because $ 74 or / and the outrageous towing fees which average $ 400 , creates an undue burden to low income folks , and the city is unable to collect those fees on top of it all .. So they believe they would generate more revenue if they lower fees which can actually be paid . You can well imagine the controversy that idea of giving the poor a break for the same violation the " well to do " have to pay . Of course see previous post where a $ 106,000 annual salary is considered low income for this area , according to federal poverty guidelines .
But I think one or more of the Scandinavian countries have a tiered traffic penalty system tied to one's income and wealth so the SF measure is not unique .
