Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote?
I’m throwing this out there because I heard something a while ago that caught my attention. I don’t honestly care all too much about 16 year olds being able to vote, but there is one very interesting caveat to all of this.
There is a deep seeded understanding in America that it is unconstitutional for there to be no taxation without representation. So having said that, which one should it be? Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote? Or should 16 year olds be exempt from all taxation? You decide…
#1, no. You have to draw the line somewhere.
#2, All U.S. residents must pay taxes in the local and State sectors as these are revenues for services they consume. So a 2 yr old paying tax on a candy bar, a 16 yr old paying tax to park the car, to a 70 yr old paying tax to buy a beer, all contribute to the services they used to secure consumables. To the extent one earns a living, then the same logic applies in federal taxation.
well first off dad there is no drawing the line when it comes to peoples rights. there is a misrepresentation and something has to be done about it. do u consider your self to be more democratic then aristocrat? well if u do then you will know that the definition of democracy is every citizen has the right to vote. 16 year old’s are citizens so they shoul be able to vote
I am a very experienced debater and keeping up with current events in both the United States and other countries is a requirement. I have found myself in situations in which adults did not know as much as I did about a certain political issue, however while I and many of the other thousands of debaters in this country (many of them (16-18) are cable of comprehending political issues and casting good votes about them, sadly not every 16 year old is. So Ryan just because this is a democracy and every citizen has the right to vote does not automatically mean that every age group should be allowed to vote, if we did we would be taking fifth graders out of school to vote. But Joseph does bring up a good argument, why are some 16 year-olds paying taxes without having a proper say in where the taxes go?
I really sdont think 16 year olds should be able to vote because they dont completely understand about politics. Some of the 16 year olds in the U.S. no about politics but thats a very few that do.
most 16 year olds are taking classes about politics and history. so dont just go around making up stuff. =)
I’m not sure that ignorance is a good argument here. People over 18 years of age are just as likely to be ignorant as those that are under. My point here is the constitutionality of the whole thing. If I pay taxes federally, then by virtue of the constitution, I have the right to vote. That’s what “no taxation without representation” means. Now.. at a state level, this might be a different matter, so I’m not talking about voting on the state level. I’m just talking about voting on the federal level. So my point here is simply that, if you get a job, whatever your age, and you have to file federal income tax, you should either A) be allowed to vote or B) you should not have to pay federal income tax