Taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Let’s define consent as:
The free, voluntary, and informed agreement to engage in an activity, relinquish authority, or permit something to be done. It requires an active, affirmative “yes” rather than the absence of a “no”. Consent must also be provided without pressure, coercion, threats, or manipulation.
Interesting example. What if you replaced the “fine” with a simple fee. It’s practically the same scenario, but it removes the hostility/negativity of the word “fine”, and turns it into a regular financial transaction. Does it become definitionally accurate to say it is consensual?
A similar example would be taxation. The same thing applies to my original scenario. The act is voluntary insofar as you yourself are having a job, but it is involuntary insofar as you do not ultimately want to give the government a portion of your income, and you would not do so except for the undesirable circumstances (imprisonment or a fine).
Could this possibly not fit the definition of consent? Pressure is technically involved, since if you weren’t earning income (to avoid taxation), you would be under pressure, as you aren’t easily able to provide basic needs (food, shelter, etc) for yourself.
Also, there was a mistake in my original scenario. I was meant to say:
If you give them your wallet, is it consensual?