I personally don’t accept the 35% as a 100% true and pure fact, without some citations. However, the percentage obviously isn’t the point here, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on the exact number. Even if it was 3.5%, this general situation is still inexcusable.
For the record, most places limit wage garnishment for debts at something like 10% - 25%. Certain types of debt, like student loan debt and medical debt, are often lower or on the lower end. And lower income, with higher costs like having children, can also reduce the max %.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I recall reading something about some states either trying or succeeding to bring back debtor prisons.
hector@lemmy.today 1 week ago
Utah for one, and not the only one.
In Utah, its an end run around the prohibition on debtor’s prisons, but the supreme court is likely to overturn that after the next presidential election is successfully rigged for their party and more Blue States fall to them to be fixed.
But they will find debt, some buy distressed debt, the debtor sells the unpaid debt for a fraction of it, someone buys it, then they file a case in court to collect, often in the big city, salt lake, regardless of where the person accused lives. Then they get default judgements when the person doesn’t show up, and put in requests (then or in resulting hearings about collecting on those judgements,) they ask the judge to hold them in contempt.
The judges almost always do, they see themselves as an arm of big business and LE, not the neutral arbiter between them and the accused. If the person comes up with the money to pay off the judgement, they are released from jail, if not they serve up to whatever the cut off is for those types of contempt judgements, 90 days or 180 I forget. But they can just file another action and do it again after the person is let out.
Then the accused of course is charged for their time in jail as well. Idk how Utah deals with that debt, but in other states it’s not collected by the state like fines and fees, which lead directly to being jailed, a day for every 10 or 20 dollars owed last I heard. Fines that get doubled a couple of times and see other fees thrown on top. But those jail fees for the stay are sent to collections, and someone could well buy that debt for pennies on the dollar, and start a new case filing in civil court.