My correspondence with a local politician

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Spideynw Posted: Fri, Jul 17 2009 12:26 PM

The cry of the revolutionaries of this country was, "no taxation without representation". Well, I did not vote for any of those on the city council nor the mayor, and as such I do not have representation, yet I still have to pay taxes or be put in jail. I would consider this theft. Don't you?

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Thanks for your recent comments to the city council. I'm not sure to what taxation you are referencing. I assure you that the mayor and members of the city council were fairly elected. As this is a municipal election year, I hope that you will take the opportunity to vote for a representative who you think fairly represents your values.

Please let me know if you have specific questions or concerns.

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Thank you very much for your response. I am referring to all taxes that I have to pay, that are levied by the city government.

Being "fairly elected" is irrelevant. You only "represent" those that voted for you. Anyone else that voted for someone else or did not vote for you is not represented in the city council and is therefore being taxed without representation.

To break it down, it is just like being in a neighborhood with three people in it. One day, two of the neighbors, I will refer to them as neighbor A and neighbor B, decide that they want something, but that they do not want to have to pay for all of it. So, they decide to hold "elections" to see who gets to take money from neighbor C to help pay for their pet project. They flip a coin, and decide that Neighbor A will vote for Neighbor B. They also allow the other neighbor, Neighbor C, the option to vote as well. However, they do not give neighbor C the option to not vote at all and not pay for their pet project. Neighbor A votes for neighbor B and neighbor B votes for neighbor B. Neighbor C votes for, well, his or her self. Well, now neighbors A and B go to C and demand money or threaten to throw C in neighbor B's basement. How in the world is there any justice in this? C obviously was not represented. Because if C were really represented, neighbor C would have told them to get a life. This is obviously extortion, nothing more nothing less. Pay up or suffer the consequences.

I am sure if I came to you and told you to pay or be locked in my basement, that you would find it unfair, regardless of whether or not I gave you a chance to vote for me.

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Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I have a couple of thoughts in response.

The first is that taxation is both constitutional and necessary to provide for certain functions that are required by of government by the constitution, such as protecting the welfare, safety, security, transportation and commerce, etc. The notion of "taxation without representation" refers to the British government's taxation of the American colonies before the Revolutionary War when they had no representatives at all, either elected or appointed, serving in the House of Commons in the British Parliament. "Representation" does not refer to whether you voted for someone or not, but whether you have a voice at all in electing representatives. The fact that you have a "vote" means that you are "represented" even though you may not have voted for the person who is ultimately elected. While it's true that you may not have voted for the person who represents you, and may not agree with their decisions, etc., the constitution defines "representation" as having the protected right to vote at the age of eligibility, which is currently 18 years (I know a lot of younger teenagers who would like that right, too).

As for whether you like the decisions made by those who are elected, you have the option to either a) vote them out of office at the next election or b) run for office yourself, in which case you would be representing everyone, whether they voted for you or not. I think it's a responsibility most elected officials take very seriously.

As for your concern with the City Council, I have noted by your address that you do not live in this Salt Lake city (even though your postal address may say Salt Lake City, the city boundary ends at 2100 South, and you are much further south than that), so I assure you that you are not paying any taxes to Salt Lake City, unless you shop in Salt Lake City and then a small portion of the sales tax will go to the city (more goes to the County and to the State). It appears that you live in Salt Lake County, so your representatives are the Salt Lake County Council. This may be confusing, because we have several levels of local government. For people like me who live in both a city and in the county, we pay taxes to both. So in a way, you might consider yourself luckier than some like me if you don't like paying taxes.

If you would like, I can make sure that your comments are forwarded to the County Council so that they are aware of your concerns.

Good luck with the next election, and with electing a "representative" who shares your views on taxes.

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Thank you for clarifying that I am not in the city limits. I was unsure of this.

I would like to clarify really quick however that I have not, nor most people I would imagine, consented to the Constitution of the United States government. Only 12 or so people signed it. Only those that have taken an office in politics have sworn to uphold it. The document is no more valid for me than a document would be for you, if me and a few of my friends and neighbors decided to write a constitution and we signed it, and you did not. Is it not interesting that the Declaration of Independence states that governments are established with consent of the governed, however there is not a government that I know of that has ever actually been established and maintained with consent of all those that are governed?

As to the cry for the war of independence of "no taxation without representation", I agree that the cry they really meant was "no taxation without being able to vote for a politician from our area", because in this country, most of us are still taxed without representation, which is really just extortion, as I have already explained.

Again, thank you for clarifying that the only taxes I have to pay from your organization without being represented are those sales taxes in the city limits. I have written to the county and state politicians.

At most, I think only 5% of the adult population would need to stop cooperating to have real change.

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Daniel James Sanchez replied on Fri, Jul 17 2009 12:34 PM

My correspondence with a local politician

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This post has 23 Replies | 3 Followers