That last statement screams of taxation without representation.
How is that? Those who pay taxes are the same as those who can vote. What does census & enumeration have to do with that other than to establish the proportion of representation in each state.
The real issue now day is not "taxation without representation" as everyone has the opertunity to vote.
Rather the issue now days is more of representation without taxation.
Milton Friedman as quoted by Northwest Florida Daily News, 10-16-2000:
Walter Williams, World Net Daily, 10-25-2000
According to the most recent U.S. Treasury Department figures, in 1997 the top 1 percent of income-earners (those with income of $250,000 and higher) paid 33 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 5 percent of income-earners ($108,000 and over) paid 52 percent, and the top 50 percent ($36,000 and over) paid 96 percent of income taxes. Guess what the bottom 50 percent of income earners paid?
If you're among those who pay little or no federal income taxes, what do you care about tax cuts? Moreover, if you think tax cuts pose a threat to government handout programs, you might be openly hostile and support Al Gore's silly "risky scheme" talk. So many Americans paying little or no federal taxes makes for a natural spending constituency. It's like me in the restaurant: What do I care about extravagance if you're footing the bill?
To remove taxation of the individual, is to remove the goad which assures accountability of government to the electorate. Federal tax rates are high because a majority of the electorate do not share proportionately in the burden their demand for largesse imposes on the minority of citizens.
The siren call for representation without taxation is the formula that got us where we are at today. The ability to hide or disguise taxation from the view of large sectors of the electorate allows the Congress to get away with the creation of the evergrowing monster that it fosters.
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw
Liberty and freedom have a price, responsibility. If that price is avoided there are no brakes on the growth of government, the ultimate result is the end of freedom through creeping socialism.
Right now the bottom 60% perceive little to no "Individual Income Tax" burden,(in many cases even a handout) and 70% of the voting public clamors for more from government looking for the top 40% of income earners/producers to foot the bill. That perception continues to grow ever stronger by eliminating even more participants from the Federal Individual Income Tax rolls as proposed in the tax reduction proposals through changes in personal exemption limits and other mechanisms such as the EITC.
16/17 year olds do not vote but they work, although 99.9% of them do not make enough money to be taxed.
Just because you vote doesn't mean your candidate cares about your interests. The tax system should inherently force legislaters to reduce taxes because it's in the best interest of the voters. Instead special interests get tax breaks because they donated a bunch of money to their representatives, in which everyone else foots the bill.
The proportion of representation is key to applying pressure at the federal level to change tax policy. Under the current income tax system there is no incentive for our "representatives" to actually represent us. Instead they fight for their pet projects which we ultimately have to fund without regard to our interests.
Tax reduction/curbing government spending is in everyones best interest, majority and minority alike, then why do our legislators fail us in this regard?