Do you think only taxpayers should be allowed to vote?

[Mats]

If not, why?

 

[spanky]

i would gladly give up my right to vote if i do not have to pay taxes

 

[Mats]

i would gladly give up my right to vote if i do not have to pay taxes

Funny man


So howabout this one:

Do you think people that don't pay taxes should be allowed to vote?

 

[Basilisk6]

Certainly, people that don't pay taxes should be allowed to vote. Voting is a right that is accorded to all U.S. citizens, regardless of status, and the way taxes in this nation are set up, they are direct indication of such status(more taxes for more income). Why should one's monetery earnings have any bearing on their right to vote? Someone who doesn't pay taxes due to low income has just as much of a right to choose his representation as anyone else.

 

[C'DaleRider]

<< Someone who doesn't pay taxes due to low income has just as much of a right to choose his representation as anyone else. >>



Very true....and I'd even say someone rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes can still be allowed to vote, too.

But, everyone pays some amount of taxes.....just go buy something, you'll pay some osrt of tax sometime during the day....gas, food, sales tax, ad valorum tax on your vehicle, etc.

I guess this idea springs from the old "only landowners can vote" crap that was used to deny voting rights to certain sectors of the population. Maybe you also want to institute literacy tests for voting, too.

 

[glenn1]

<< Someone who doesn't pay taxes due to low income has just as much of a right to choose his representation as anyone else. >>



Let 'em vote. Not as if their input matters much anyway, since they can't influence politics the good old fashioned way, by buying off politicians...

 

[Czar]

does it realy matter?

how many people actualy vote?

 

[Nefrodite]

sales tax= everyone?

 

[Tominator]

<< Very true....and I'd even say someone rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes can still be allowed to vote, too. >>



That person does not exist...

 

[Ferocious]

<< Do you think only taxpayers should be allowed to vote >>


nonsense.

FT college students should have the right to vote, as well as retired people, and the disabled, etc.

 

[Amused]

Unless one is supported 100%, EVERYONE pays some taxes.

The poor still shop, eat, and buy clothes.

Renters pay property taxes by proxy.

And no one is "rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes." In fact, it's quite the opposite. Over half our federal budget is financed by the taxes on the top 5% of wage earners.

The top 1% pay nearly 35% of the taxes.

The top 5% pay 53.8% of the taxes.

The top 25% pay 82.7% of the taxes.

The top 50% pay 95.8% of the taxes.

The bottom 50% pay 4.2% of the taxes.

 

[Josh3D]

<< And no one is "rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes." >>



Well, if you are rich enough to live off your fortune you do not need to have an income, i think that is what he meant.

 

[glenn1]

<< Well, if you are rich enough to live off your fortune you do not need to have an income, i think that is what he meant. >>



Stock dividends, interest payments on bonds, and interest payments on bank instruments (CDs, money market accounts, passbook savings, etc.) are all essentially treated as being identical to earned income (i.e. income from employment) and are taxed as such, so unless you know of a tax shelter i don't, there is no such thing as being able to live tax-free off investment dividends.

I suppose if you meant that if someone had a few million in cash stuffed in a mattress, and lived off that, there would be no income tax involved, but how realistic is that ?

 

[Tominator]

<< Well, if you are rich enough to live off your fortune you do not need to have an income, i think that is what he meant. >>



That's just as stupid a statement!

I hope to retire at 65 on my 401K...I guess that makes me rich enough to live off my fortune...:|

 

[Amused]

<<

<< And no one is "rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes." >>



Well, if you are rich enough to live off your fortune you do not need to have an income, i think that is what he meant. >>



Ever hear of capital gains tax? Ever receive a tax statement for your savings account?

20% off the top.

 

[glenn1]

<< I hope to retire at 65 on my 401K...I guess that makes me rich enough to live off my fortune... >>



A 401k is a qualified plan, which means it grows tax deferred. There's no getting around the tax man, when you start having that 401k money distributed, it will be treated as, you guessed it, earned income, and subject to income tax.

We could always repeal the Sixteenth Amendment i suppose... nah, the tax-n-spenders would sooner commit ritual suicide than give up the ability to pick our pockets..

 

[Ferocious]

The USA would never have become the great country that it is without taxes.

A moderate tax structure has been a key to our success.

 

[jjones]

we're all taxpayers. there's a few things that you must do in life. be born, pay taxes, and die.

 

[bulldawg]

<< A moderate tax structure has been a key to our success >>



Agreed. But I don't think that the Founding Fathers ever had our present tax structure in mind. :disgust:


And, to answer the original post. No, taxpayers should not be the only voters. Many older people have paid taxes all their lives and should not be kept away because of low income in retirement. Heck, they are probably the largest group of voters now.

 

[tcsenter]

<< I guess this idea springs from the old "only landowners can vote" crap that was used to deny voting rights to certain sectors of the population. Maybe you also want to institute literacy tests for voting, too. >>

Actually, the propertied male restrictions embraced by Madison and others had nothing to do with keeping certain classes 'down' or denying them any rights. At the time, propertied males WERE the only ones who paid taxes, via property taxes or tarrifs from the import of goods. Given the tax structure in that day, it made sense that those who pay for government should have first crack at how the money is spent (by being the ones to elect the reps). It would be like me coming to your house and having a vote in how your household finances are spent, though I didn't help you make any of it. I'm going to be voting that we spend the money on me. It was a perfectly reasonable expectation at the time.

 

[Josh3D]

I am fully aware that everyone pays taxes, i was just making the suggestion that someone rich enough to live on their fortune does not have to have an income and therefore no income tax.

I thought that was what he meant.

No need to get hostile over that, is there?



<< I hope to retire at 65 on my 401K...I guess that makes me rich enough to live off my fortune... >>



Did i say "Tominater can live off his fortune"?

I said "someone rich enough" if you consider yourself in that position, fine, my statement includes you, if not, it does not.

 

[glen]

no

 

[tcsenter]

<< And no one is "rich enough to completely avoid paying income taxes." In fact, it's quite the opposite. Over half our federal budget is financed by the taxes on the top 5% of wage earners...The top 5% pay 53.8% of the taxes...The top 25% pay 82.7% of the taxes. >>

You know, I find it disturbing that so many people are lead to believe the opposite, that Rite-Aid and McDonald's clerks pay most of the taxes in this country (the 'little v. big man' propaganda).

The reality is, lower income folks are getting a DAMNED good deal in this country. I know a surgeon who will pay more federal income tax this year than I've GROSSED in the last two years combined. Yet, we drive the same roads, his kids go to the same public schools that my kids would (if I had any), we drink from the same water system, use the same sewer system, breathe the same quality air that is regulated by tax-money, enjoy the same police, fire, and EMS systems, use the same court systems, benefit from the same prisons who keep criminals locked up, enjoy the same military protecting our country, all of the things that taxes pay for. Talk about getting more bang for your buck!

 

[Tominator]

<< A moderate tax structure has been a key to our success. >>



And may I add that less taxes permits even greater success!

I for one, and one of the few in this thread, DO NOT envy the 'rich' their money.

They EARNED it for the most part. They PAY the largest part of the tax burden and they STILL only get one vote!