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by lmg643 2113 days ago
technology recreates the town square of medieval times - publicly shame delinquent borrowers - what amazing progress!
1 comments

Next up: we’re disrupting finance by bringing back debtors prisons!
Still exists today. Some examples i can think up off the top of my head. Go to Vegas and don't pay off your gambling tab. Or don't pay off your traffic fines. Don't pay your owed taxes. Don't pay your restaurant tab.
Not paying your restaurant or gambling tab is indistinguishable from theft.

As far as I know you cannot go to prison for owed taxes.

Any other service that is post paid, there is no risk of jail time. I can visit the dentist and get my teeth cleaned and get the bill and not pay. I can get my home remodeled and not pay. I can rack up a $50,000 bill on AWS and not pay. All these would go to collections and the police wouldn’t hall me off to jail.

Not paying your tax is a felony.

The difference is knowing the costs ahead of time versus getting a bill and being unable or unwilling to pay. Most post paid services, as you call it, have unknown costs at the time of service. Not so for dining at a restaurant.

Not paying tax can’t land you in jail.

A court mandating a proportion of your salary be diverted to repay debt is effectively a debtors prison.
Except, you know, for the whole prison part.