The point of having fines at all, is that they are a disincentive for anti-social behaviours. Giving someone with a 6 or 7 figure income a $1000 fine isn't much of a disincentive. It certainly is for the guy making $35k.
Agreed here. Although the courts have been known to bugger it up completely in some alimony judgements.
It also raises the point of what is actually done with the funds from these fines. Two thoughts come to mind:
-Use them to fund the justice system. Kind of makes sense although you run the risk of creating a self-perpetuating monster.
-Toss them into a huge pot where at the end of every year everyone's income taxes get reduced proportionately. So the money goes back to the population. Probably will be a relatively small amount of money for everyone but you avoid having the state fining people left and right (think photo-radar) to fund the general accounts. If you get fined, you lose and your neighbours all win a little bit.