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Should people that pay no tax be allowed to vote?


AUisAll

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I'm OK if they vote unless they are caught cheating. But I do think people who owe back taxes shouldn't be allowed until they are paid.

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US citizens should be allowed to vote, even if the vote differently than me. Paying or not paying taxes has nothing to do with the right to vote. I am a conservative who believes in the US Constitution even though I believe most people who don't pay taxes would tend to be liberal and for big government. It would be hypocritical of me to say I believe in strict interpretation of the constitution except where it allows people who have different opinions then me to vote.

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YES....But, ILLEGALS should NOT. (And dead folks should not....Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

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The question was settled a long time ago:

http://en.wikipedia...._(United_States)

In U.S. practice, a poll tax was used as a de facto or implicit pre-condition of the exercise of the ability to vote. This tax emerged in some states of the United States in the late 19th century as part of the Jim Crow laws. After the ability to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment, many Southern states enacted poll tax laws as a means of restricting eligible voters; such laws often included a grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These laws, along with unfairly implemented literacy tests and extra-legal intimidation,[1] achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American voters, as well as poor whites.

Although largely associated with states of the former Confederacy, poll taxes were also in place in other states. For instance, California had a poll tax until 1914 when it was abolished through a popular referendum.

Initially, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937), found the poll tax to be constitutional. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, reflecting a political compromise, abolished the use of the poll tax (or any other tax) as a pre-condition for voting in federal elections, but made no mention of poll taxes in state elections.

In the 1966 case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, the Supreme Court overruled its decision in Breedlove v. Suttles, and extended the prohibition of poll taxes to state elections. It declared that the imposition of a poll tax in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Harper ruling was one of several that rely on the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment rather than the more direct provision of the 15th Amendment. In a two-month period in the spring of 1966, Federal courts declared unconstitutional poll tax laws in the last four states to have them, starting with Texas on 9 February. Decisions followed for Alabama (3 March) and Virginia (25 March). Mississippi's $2.00 poll tax (equal to $14.54 in 2013) was the last to fall, declared unconstitutional on 8 April 1966, by a federal panel in Jackson, Mississippi.[2] Virginia attempted to partially abolish its poll tax by requiring a residence certification, but the Supreme Court did not accept this.

You cannot establish any sort of financial qualification for voting, nor should anyone wish to, IMO. I would absolutely oppose any attempt to make tax payment a pre-condition for voting.

Around colonial times and before, it was not uncommon to make land ownership a requirement to vote. If you didn't own land--at least your own home--you couldn't vote. Anyone care to disenfranchise the many Auburn students (some on this board) in rentals or dorms today?

Non-citizens can't vote. I agree with that, whether illegals or documented permanent residents. I don't believe there's been much of a problem with illegals trying to vote: They generally don't want to expose themselves to the government or the system.

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...Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

Neither should conservatives. Voter fraud is not restricted by party line. And while some conservative politicians have screamed "voter fraud" as another liberal boogie man, the number of documented cases of voter fraud does not come close to justifying the conservative paranoia, IMO.
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...Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

Neither should conservatives. Voter fraud is not restricted by party line. And while some conservative politicians have screamed "voter fraud" as another liberal boogie man, the number of documented cases of voter fraud does come close to justifying the conservative paranoia, IMO.

Got a link?

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...Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

Neither should conservatives. Voter fraud is not restricted by party line. And while some conservative politicians have screamed "voter fraud" as another liberal boogie man, the number of documented cases of voter fraud does come close to justifying the conservative paranoia, IMO.

Got a link?

Take your pick:

http://www.forbes.co...atic-deception/

http://www.brennance...out-voter-fraud

http://www.slate.com...most_none_.html

http://ivn.us/2012/08/29/study-in-person-voter-fraud-is-virtually-non-existent/

or google it for many, many more!

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US citizens should be allowed to vote, even if the vote differently than me. Paying or not paying taxes has nothing to do with the right to vote. I am a conservative who believes in the US Constitution even though I believe most people who don't pay taxes would tend to be liberal and for big government. It would be hypocritical of me to say I believe in strict interpretation of the constitution except where it allows people who have different opinions then me to vote.

I agree with you. Citizenship is the only requirement that should be in place for voting. I do wish the electorate were more informed but we are a free country (for the moment) and so you don't have to be informed on the issues to vote. That is how we got Obama in the first place. Some people who don't pay taxes are much more informed about the state of America than those who do.

For all of the flack that Alabama takes for its education system, and it is not in the best shape, there is something they do right. They require a Civics class to graduate high school. I think every state should require this. If you don't have a fundamental understanding of how the political system works then you are at a disadvantage as a citizen. At the time this article was written only NINE states require these classes, and that was changing:

Only nine states require students to pass a social studies test to graduate from high school: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Georgia’s will be phased out, but Maryland and Florida are slated to add high-stakes tests.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/12/circle-study-finds-most-s_n_1959522.html

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...Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

Neither should conservatives. Voter fraud is not restricted by party line. And while some conservative politicians have screamed "voter fraud" as another liberal boogie man, the number of documented cases of voter fraud does come close to justifying the conservative paranoia, IMO.

Got a link?

Take your pick:

http://www.forbes.co...atic-deception/

http://www.brennance...out-voter-fraud

http://www.slate.com...most_none_.html

http://ivn.us/2012/08/29/study-in-person-voter-fraud-is-virtually-non-existent/

or google it for many, many more!

Did you mean to say "does not come close?"

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...Not to mention Libs should not get to vote 2-3 times per election.....)

Neither should conservatives. Voter fraud is not restricted by party line. And while some conservative politicians have screamed "voter fraud" as another liberal boogie man, the number of documented cases of voter fraud does not come close to justifying the conservative paranoia, IMO.

Got a link?

Take your pick:

http://www.forbes.co...atic-deception/

http://www.brennance...out-voter-fraud

http://www.slate.com...most_none_.html

http://ivn.us/2012/0...y-non-existent/

or google it for many, many more!

Did you mean to say "does not come close?"

Yep, that's exactly what I meant! Thanks for catching my error, which I have now corrected in the original post.
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If you are a US Citizen at least 18 years of age or older, you should have the right to vote.

This.

We'd be better off with the Fair Tax any way. The current tax system pits Americans against one another and both sides of the political spectrum use it to push their agenda. Examples: "Rich need to pay their fair share" "People who don't pay taxed shouldn't complain".

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One dollar, one vote. Not only should those who don't pay taxes not be allowed to vote but, those of us who do, should get one vote for every dollar we pay. Golden rule.

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I've just heard the argument that someone that someone that contributes nothing but sucks on the teat will obviously vote for the 'Santa Claus' candidate and as more and more just quit trying and get on the teat, what happens when there are not enough money to supply the zeros?

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I've just heard the argument that someone that someone that contributes nothing but sucks on the teat will obviously vote for the 'Santa Claus' candidate and as more and more just quit trying and get on the teat, what happens when there are not enough money to supply the zeros?

All my hard urned money done gone to the poor, lazy, no a counts. I wunder were they are hidin all that money? Dont give them bums nothin, we need it for more warrin. Trillions for war, nuthin for lazy bums.

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