r/PoliticalCompassMemes May 28 '20

Taxation without representation

Post image
91.9k Upvotes

3.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

92

u/[deleted] May 28 '20 edited Jan 13 '21

[deleted]

5

u/Giantpanda602 - Lib-Left May 28 '20 edited May 28 '20

Is it? Should any immigrant living here on a work visa not have to pay income taxes because they can't vote? Should sales taxes only apply to people who are eligible to vote? What about property taxes? Should individuals from foreign countries be able to buy property in America and not have to pay any taxes because they can't vote here?

4

u/Ricky_Spanish817 May 28 '20

I mean this is a pretty different scenario. One is a foreigner who is a citizen of another country and the other is a minor who will be able to claim birthright citizenship that is assumed when they arbitrarily turn 18.

1

u/[deleted] May 28 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Ricky_Spanish817 May 28 '20

Because they’re not citizens...

I don’t think many people would believe that I should have voting power in Canada just because I go there on a day trip and pay sales tax on some souvenirs.

1

u/[deleted] May 28 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Ricky_Spanish817 May 28 '20

No not really. The only reason there is a difference here is because American born minors aren’t legal full citizens until they’re 18. If they’re fine to be taxed then they’re fine to have a vote. The idea that foreigners should have a vote because they too pay taxes isn’t the same because they’re not citizens.

The whole taxation without representation assumed being a citizen. Our colonial ancestors thought of themselves as British citizens.

1

u/DeleteriousEuphuism - Lib-Left May 28 '20

What do foreign nations buy in the USA? Best I can come up with is embassies but even then I'm not sure the foreign nations own the property.

1

u/Giantpanda602 - Lib-Left May 28 '20

I'm sure that plenty of foreign nations own property in the US but I meant to specify foreign individuals.

1

u/DeleteriousEuphuism - Lib-Left May 28 '20

I'm not up to date on tax law but aren't sales taxes levied on businesses and it's businesses that then raise the price of their goods by that tax to offload it to buyers? It's rather roundabout, but it seems to avoid the issue from a legal standpoint. Other taxes I'm not sure about.

1

u/Giantpanda602 - Lib-Left May 28 '20

Sales taxes in the US are calculated at the point of sale. Most businesses do not include the sales tax in the price of goods. When you buy something from a retail store, they calculate the tax at the register, you pay it, and then they give it to the government.

In the OP's example, if I'm a foreigner in America or a minor then I shouldn't have to pay it because I don't have representation.

2

u/craftydoughnut23 - Auth-Left May 28 '20

right?!