Toll dodging

In an impressive feat, a man in China was able to evade $560,000 in toll charges over a 9 month period by affixing military plates to his vehicle. Then they fined him another $300,000 and sentenced him to life in prison.

Of interest:
That one could run up over a half a million dollars in tolls over a 9 month period makes me wonder if he did a lot of driving, or if there are simply too many toll booths in China. (I'd say both. He was running overweight loads which incurred larger than normal toll charges.)

That one could obtain military plates to put on his vehicle to evade tolls makes me wonder about their military quartermasters.

That one could be expected to repay $800,000 while spending life in prison... Well, I suspect he'll be costing more than what he already owes.

In the end:
In a relatively un-China-like move, they have decided to re-try the poor guy because of a bit of a people's revolt on the Internet. Hopefully the cost of this re-trial and the amount they save by not imprisoning him for the rest of his life are a wash.

THIS is whyCHINESEpaytaxes.

read more: Outcry prompts retrial for Chinese toll dodger(bbc)