The historical phrase "Taxation without representation is a tyranny." is generally attributed to James Otis around 1761. At that time the American colonists felt that the British Parliament was unfairly imposing taxes on things such as stamps,sugar and tea imports, which the colonists had no say about. Eventually the colonists began to revolt against the Parliament by actions such as the "Boston Tea Party." All of this dissension among the colonists eventually led to the Revolutionary War. The American colonists were willing to fight and even die for the ability to have in say in the taxation placed on themselves.
The first official Federal income income tax became implemented in 1914. At that time couples filing jointly earning less than $20,000 paid a rate of 1%. Couples earning in excess of $500,000 paid their taxes at a rate of 7%. By 2013 those rates had progressed to 10% for couples earning under $17,850 and 39.6% for those her earned over $450,000 annually.
It's no secret that many Americans of today are dissatisfied with our current government, government spending and higher income taxes. In fact, a recent Gallup pole found that 90% of Americans do not like the job our congress is doing in Washington. With so many unsatisfied customers, how is possible that in 2012 91% of the congressional incumbents that ran for office were re-elected. The answer to that question is not as complicated as you might think.
Consider the fact that approximately only 1/3 of U.S. citizens know the names of their representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and only 27% know the names of both of their U.S. Senators. Now add in the fact that the voter turnout was only 58.2% for those elections. If you put all these numbers together, you will come to realize that 58.2% voted and only 30% of these voters even knew the name of their incumbent representatives. Does that mean that half of small number of voters that did vote, did't even know who they were voting for?
According to the United States Census Bureau, by 2014 the number of voters participating in Congressional elections had fallen to only 41.9%. Even in the last Presidential election only 57.5% of Americans voted for the highest elected position in the U.S. Right here in Arizona last year only 44% of the registered voters actually voted in the gubernatorial election.
The point that I am trying to make is this: Our forefathers strongly disagreed with their government's conduct at that time. They not only complained about "Taxation Without Representation." but they stood up and did something about it. Today most Americans feel that their views and opinions are not being properly defended in Washington. The difference between us and the colonists is that we're not willing to do much, if anything about it. More than 1/2 of the American don't exercise a right that many people in other countries are willing to die for much as our forefathers did. If you don't vote or don't know who are what you're voting for, forget about proper representation from elected politicians, because you're not even trying to represent yourself. I urge to represent yourself every chance you get....Cane Man.
www.dictionaryreference.com, www.localelectors.org, www.examiner.com, www.census.gov, www.azsos,gov, youtube
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