Felons Should Not Have to Pay Taxes

Should Felons pay taxes?

There is no way felons should pay taxes. Let's look at this situation.

You have a guy that commits a felony. He goes to prison, and serves his time. Isn't that what society says you do to make amends? In our system we are supposed to rehabilitate so you can enter society as a gainful member. Our system is based on do the crime, do the time.

However no amount of rehabilitation will restore the basic right given you by the founding fathers, the right to participate in a fair democratic process. You are no longer allowed to vote.

The sad part of this is that people voting is where we decide who our Congressmen, Presidents, Senators, etc will be. This is how we pick the people that represent us. This brings us full circle to where the issue of taxes comes in.

Didn't the founding fathers fight the idea of "no taxation without representation"? Isn't that what we are doing to felons? We are taxing them, but they have no say in the people that represent us.

I believe this should give the felons an automatic "out" for paying taxes. Of course the other option would be to give them the right to vote. I guess it would be silly for us to give them that right. Giving them the right to vote would be just like telling them that we gave them a chance to reform while in prison. No, I think we should continue to hold past transgressions against them, not let them vote, and follow the founding father's model by not taxing them.