5 ms·

If you wouldn't pay your taxes, you wouldn't be able to vote. Paying is one of the main part of our society, and I wish I'd see less HN'ers obsessing over anyth

by deburo 5y ago

If you wouldn't pay your taxes, you wouldn't be able to vote. Paying is one of the main part of our society, and I wish I'd see less HN'ers obsessing over anything with a price.

duckfang 5y ago
I think it's the "1$ = 1 vote" is the issue here. That means a single person with lots of money can literally buy their way over all others.
gumby 5y ago
What do you mean? People who don't earn enough to have to pay taxes certainly don't lose the right to vote for that reason in any democracy I know of today. And many people pay taxes who don't have the right to vote. Voting power is only loosely correlated with the amount of taxes paid. Paying taxes is important but is orthogonal with the right to vote.
- nicomeemes 5y ago
  What does orthogonal mean in this context? Just wondering
  - guerrilla 5y ago
    Neither depends on the other.
Majestic121 5y ago
There's not really a relation between the two. A lot of systems have taxes and no vote (see medieval European society for example). And in a lot of current countries, your vote is not linked to you paying taxes : for example in some countries very poor (and it's somewhat true of very rich as well) people pay little to no taxes, while sometimes getting a non negligible amount of money from the government, amounting to the opposite of paying taxes in a way. They still get a vote, exactly as valuable as one from someone paying a lot of taxes.
- lostcolony 5y ago
  The US decouples voting from taxation in the opposite way too. Felons, those here on a visa, even those here illegally, etc, all get taxed, but don't have the right to vote.
aaomidi 5y ago
Many countries, no matter what, you have an unalienable right to vote. Just because American "democracy" removes the right to vote from individuals because of things they've done doesn't mean its right or even the typical behavior from a "democracy".

by deburo 5y ago

If you wouldn't pay your taxes, you wouldn't be able to vote. Paying is one of the main part of our society, and I wish I'd see less HN'ers obsessing over anything with a price.

duckfang 5y ago

I think it's the "1$ = 1 vote" is the issue here. That means a single person with lots of money can literally buy their way over all others.

gumby 5y ago

What do you mean? People who don't earn enough to have to pay taxes certainly don't lose the right to vote for that reason in any democracy I know of today. And many people pay taxes who don't have the right to vote. Voting power is only loosely correlated with the amount of taxes paid. Paying taxes is important but is orthogonal with the right to vote.

nicomeemes 5y ago
What does orthogonal mean in this context? Just wondering
- guerrilla 5y ago
  Neither depends on the other.

Majestic121 5y ago

There's not really a relation between the two. A lot of systems have taxes and no vote (see medieval European society for example). And in a lot of current countries, your vote is not linked to you paying taxes : for example in some countries very poor (and it's somewhat true of very rich as well) people pay little to no taxes, while sometimes getting a non negligible amount of money from the government, amounting to the opposite of paying taxes in a way. They still get a vote, exactly as valuable as one from someone paying a lot of taxes.

lostcolony 5y ago
The US decouples voting from taxation in the opposite way too. Felons, those here on a visa, even those here illegally, etc, all get taxed, but don't have the right to vote.

aaomidi 5y ago

Many countries, no matter what, you have an unalienable right to vote. Just because American "democracy" removes the right to vote from individuals because of things they've done doesn't mean its right or even the typical behavior from a "democracy".