NationStates Jolt Archive

After all, government is mostly about allocating money, is it not fair that those who pay for it have a bigger say?

YES
as a fat person from a fat family i say bigger people should have more say!
excellent idea!

YES
as a fat person from a fat family i say bigger people should have more say!
excellent idea!As a petite person from a petite family I say BOO on that!!!11!!

More votes for those who are bigger in the pants is an excellant idea. Just go to your local polling station. When you get to the old ladies working the polls, drop your pants and let the grannies see if you qualify for an extra vote.

More votes for those who are bigger in the pants is an excellant idea. Just go to your local polling station. When you get to the old ladies working the polls, drop your pants and let the grannies see if you qualify for an extra vote.
Hmmm in that case YAY for bigger votes!!!

I get the vague feeling that I should have phrased the question differently :)

No, every citizen over 18 gets one vote, plain and simple.

However, I think that, practicalities aside, people who don't use so much in government services shouldn't have to pay as much in taxes.

so if your bigger or "bigger" ;) then you get a bigger ballot or what? O_o

so if your bigger or "bigger" ;) then you get a bigger ballot or what? O_o

Every extra inch is an extra vote.

After all, government is mostly about allocating money, is it not fair that those who pay for it have a bigger say?
Then do it as a group. As a group the middle class pay a staggering amount more total taxes than the upper echelons.

After all, government is mostly about allocating money, is it not fair that those who pay for it have a bigger say?
No. They've already gotten so much out of government. It maintains the order necessary for thriving business that made them rich. It maintains the police and military who guard their wealth. The rich have gotten alot out of government already. They don't need a bigger say in what government does.

I don't know about where you live, but in the US, it is a very big mis-nomer that the middle class carries the highest tax burden. The reality is that taxes are too high for everyone, particularly given what kind of return we get on our investment. But, the top 10% of income earners are responsable for nearly 50% of total IRS revenues.
Ah...but that depends on your definition of middle class. Let me outline some stats for you:

• An enormous percentage of taxes are payed by a minority of Americans:
o The Top 1% of taxpayers pay 29% of all taxes.
o The Top 5% of taxpayers pay 50% of all taxes
That sure sounds like the really rich are being taxed to death. However, when you look at the figures provided by the IRS, these figures don't hold up to even basic adding and subtracting. One chart shows the top 10%, 5% and 1% of taxpayers paying a whopping 146% of total taxes! (yes, overlapping exists, but no matter how you work the numbers, it just doesn't add up to even 50% of all taxes paid) Since this is patently impossible, the numbers must be viewed with suspicion. I investigated further, and looked at the raw data available at http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=1545&from=4&sequence=0.

Let us just look at the top 5%, since they look to be the ones paying the most taxes.

There are 5.9 million families included in the top 5% tax bracket. They earn an average of $276,000 per family before taxes. Source: Congressional Budget Office, "Preliminary Estimates of Effective Tax Rates" (September 7, 1999) (all statistics to follow are also taken from this source, which can be viewed by visiting the site in the above quote)

These people are wealthy, no doubt about it. However, the 'filthy' rich aren't even factored in here. The top 1% earn in excess of $719,000 (on average). Let us now look at the more 'traditional middle class', the families that earn from $21, 000 to $132, 000 a year. I am basing this idea of the middle class by factoring out those living below the poverty line, and those making more than an average educated 2 income family could. Middle class, in this case meaning neither rich, nor poor.

There are 84.9 million families that belong to this middle class. They pay a combined 42% of federal taxes. Now, the middle class has a 55% share of the total family income. The top 5% has a 28% share.

Let's compare the numbers again: 5.9 million families who have a 28% share of the total family income, compared to 84.9 million families who have a 55% share of the total family income. What the heck does that all mean? You can't just multiply the total amount of income tax paid by these percentages and get an accurate amount. You need to break it down further.

You do that by multiplying the number of families (in millions) by the average income, getting a total and multiplying that by the federal tax rate (done each time for each separate tax bracket). This gives you a real dollar amount paid in each tax bracket.

Let's look at actual tax rates. The top 5% pay 19.6% of their income in taxes. That works out to about: $3.16 billion dollars a year.

The middle class pay various rates of income tax, depending on their tax bracket. In any case, it works out that the middle class pays $498.7 billion dollars a year.

Yes, the rich pay higher income taxes, but it is the middle class that pays the most income taxes in real dollars. The middle class therefore bears the brunt of taxation, because of sheer numbers.

After all, government is mostly about allocating money, is it not fair that those who pay for it have a bigger say?
I believe everybody should be expected to pay the same ammount in taxes, if we are all going to get the same amount of input through the voting process. If we expect certain citizens to contribute more to sustaining our government and our society, then those individuals should also receive proportional increases in their political influence. I would prefer not to have wealth = bigger votes, but rather to simply tax every citizen equally and give everybody equal votes.

More votes for those who are bigger in the pants is an excellant idea. Just go to your local polling station. When you get to the old ladies working the polls, drop your pants and let the grannies see if you qualify for an extra vote.
This sounds like an evil plan to take away women's right to vote.

This sounds like an evil plan to take away women's right to vote.
Not if we're allowed to bring our dildos along...

This sounds like an evil plan to take away women's right to vote.
Naw with the genaric "bigger" we can just modify and expand it to breasts as well :p

This sounds like an evil plan to take away women's right to vote.

You didn't let me finish. For the broads, every bust size over 36C is worth an extra vote. You have to open your blouse or take off your top at the polling station.