Should paying income tax be a requirement for voting?

[Deleted]

Not so. The OP's opinion are invalid, for instance. In a democracy everyone is entitled to vote, and in most democracies everyone are entitled to having an opinion, but that doesn't make their opinion valid.

Sorry! Valid was a bad choice of word. Fixed it.

[Nengal]

Completely false. The 24th Amendment states:

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax."

Once again, this ONLY states that you can't be denied a vote for not paying a tax. (Which is what this thread is about completely.)

Doesn't say it can't be denied for reasons other than the 15th, 19th, or 24th amendments.

IE:
Government decides your IQ is too low to vote, they disallow you to vote anymore.
Government decides you're possibly a terrorist for no apparent reason, they disallow you to vote anymore.
Government decides they don't like you very much, they disallow you to vote anymore.

All legal.

[Travis B]

Once again, this ONLY states that you can't be denied a vote for not paying a tax. (Which is what this thread is about completely.)

Doesn't say it can't be denied for reasons other than the 15th, 19th, or 24th amendments.

IE:
Government decides your IQ is too low to vote, they disallow you to vote anymore.
Government decides you're possibly a terrorist for no apparent reason, they disallow you to vote anymore.
Government decides they don't like you very much, they disallow you to vote anymore.

All legal.

First of all, your original post that I was responding to claimed that the only references to voting rights in the Constitution are with regards to "religion, race, sex, or previous condition of servitude". You claimed that depriving someone of the right to vote based on failure to pay a tax is constitutional. The 24th Amendment clearly shows you to be wrong in the claim. It's ok, you can admit it.

Secondly, the Equal Protection Clause would protect someone's right to vote in the other cases you mentioned. So you're wrong on those points as well. I suggest you do a little more research on the Constitution before you make more ridiculous claims.

[Tastyfish]

It clearly shows a mentality of trying to associate with the super wealthy by limiting other people ( thus raising your own status/importance).


If you are declaring war on the poor, you are doing it wrong guys.

[Klingers]

They probably get fined.

Compulsory voting has always struck me as a terrible idea. It's one thing to have people who are have no interest in (and thus understanding of) politics not vote, it's another thing to have them voting on stuff they don't understand.

But then I guess most the people who vote don't actually have any understanding of what they're voting for anyway; just voting for whoever has the most appealing rhetoric to them and the consequences be damned.

It's a good idea, and I'll tell you why: It's a buffer that stops polarized right-wing left-wing policies from being the only things given any attention. The fact that you have to at least part-way cater to popular opinion on a larger demographic scale means that the health system, education, cost of living, stuff like that doesn't get shoved by the wayside as easily as it does in American politics.

Obviously sheeple can still be led in a particular direction to a point, but as has happened in Australia here you see both sides completely disconnected from their constituency purely because they're playing for points instead of focusing on issues. That works up to the point that people's power bills double in five years, the median house price is still double anywhere else in the world and a very visible two-speed economy is starting to develop with mining surging ahead and everything else... not so much. Public cynicism can be a very powerful weapon to, as the brilliant slogan of an Australian party of another era once said, "keep the bastards honest".