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I live a couple miles outside the borders of a town, so I don't get to vote in town elections, just county and township elections. However, I do all my shopping

I live a couple miles outside the borders of a town, so I don't get to vote in town elections, just county and township elections. However, I do all my shopping in town, use the town library, drive on the town's roads, belong to some organizations that do charitable work in town, etc. It's fair to say that I'm affected by town politics in a lot of ways, but I don't get in a say in those politics. Sometimes the lines about what affects you are blurry, but the question of whether you get a vote isn't: you do or you don't. Maybe rural people should get a partial vote in town affairs, 3/5 or something like that.

jamiek88 1y ago
Do you pay town taxes? Or do you avoid paying those town taxes and still lament your lack of vote?
- HankStallone 1y ago
  I don't lament my lack of a vote; I understand that it's an imperfect system. As for whether I pay town taxes, it depends which ones you mean. Nothing on my property tax bill goes directly to the town's coffers for things like the parks and garbage pickup. But I pay the town sales tax every time I go shopping. I pay the town's sizable hotel and restaurant tax every time I go out to eat. I'm pretty sure the town gets some downstream fraction of the gas tax I pay every time I fill up. Of course, all those taxes are voluntary in the sense that I could drive further to a different town. So does that qualify as "taxation without representation"? The Founders would probably say so, but it doesn't bother me enough to get chuffed about; I'm just explaining it for people who haven't experienced it.
- rbanffy 1y ago
  Wouldn't this kind of reasoning - no taxes, no votes - end up making anyone who doesn't pay taxes, by whatever means, unable to participate in democratic governance? I'm asking for a couple billionaires.
  - Jensson 1y ago
    > I'm asking for a couple billionaires. Their companies pay taxes, so no that argument doesn't work. Every company pays some form of employee taxes and so on, there is no way to get around that.
    - rbanffy 1y ago
      > Every company pays some form of employee taxes Employees pay those. And companies don't vote (they need to bribe politicians through donations).

jamiek88 1y ago

Do you pay town taxes? Or do you avoid paying those town taxes and still lament your lack of vote?

HankStallone 1y ago
I don't lament my lack of a vote; I understand that it's an imperfect system. As for whether I pay town taxes, it depends which ones you mean. Nothing on my property tax bill goes directly to the town's coffers for things like the parks and garbage pickup. But I pay the town sales tax every time I go shopping. I pay the town's sizable hotel and restaurant tax every time I go out to eat. I'm pretty sure the town gets some downstream fraction of the gas tax I pay every time I fill up. Of course, all those taxes are voluntary in the sense that I could drive further to a different town. So does that qualify as "taxation without representation"? The Founders would probably say so, but it doesn't bother me enough to get chuffed about; I'm just explaining it for people who haven't experienced it.
rbanffy 1y ago
Wouldn't this kind of reasoning - no taxes, no votes - end up making anyone who doesn't pay taxes, by whatever means, unable to participate in democratic governance? I'm asking for a couple billionaires.
- Jensson 1y ago
  > I'm asking for a couple billionaires. Their companies pay taxes, so no that argument doesn't work. Every company pays some form of employee taxes and so on, there is no way to get around that.
  - rbanffy 1y ago
    > Every company pays some form of employee taxes Employees pay those. And companies don't vote (they need to bribe politicians through donations).