AFCDorset
Roofer
You are quite right in what you say Mr T, thank you for the response.I take your point, but what if you're at the bottom of the food chain and don't pay tax because you are poor, that means laws that discriminate against you can only be voted on by people with more money than you. Seems wrong on the face of it that the marginalized are also then disenfranchised because voting is based on wealth. The whole point of one person one vote is that despite the vast differences between individuals we are all equal at the ballot box.
This is why I use the word 'productive' rather than money or wealth where I can and refer to income tax as 'a simple way to keep score'.
Paying tax is a very blunt measure if used as a sole criteria, but it does address one of the core issues. In the simplest possible terms I want to see the people who build the country, make it successful in all respects not just monetary, have control over how that country is run, a financial component is important in this but there should be other facts too.
I have, for quite a long time, been an enthusiastic supporter of equality of opportunity. In this context I means that everyone has the opportunity to earn the right to vote by doing something decent, 'productive' as I say above, for society. Not just financial, there should be other ways to 'earn' the right to vote so that no one who wishes to do so is disenfranchised.
Once earned the principal that we have one vote and that all votes count the same is a good one, I won't argue with that.
Sorry to witter on, something of a 'thing' for me.