[Envisioning]

For people nostalgic about the Founding Fathers, I don’t know if many FReepers are aware that voting was originally limited to people paying property taxes. There was a reason for that: they had a stake in the future of an area that wasn’t shared by all of the residents.

I thought it was just people who owned land. Did they actually pay property taxes back then?

Anyway, if this passes, I will seriously consider moving (((ping)))!

Property taxes are the antithesis of a free society.

[JerseyanExile]

It varied from state to state. In some places, it was simply having property or meeting a set amount of proclamation money. In others, it was paying state taxes of some kind. There were often stricter requirements for voting for the upper house of each state’s legislature.

In any event, by 1790, property requirements were non-enforced in the vast majority of states, at least for the lower house of the legislature.

[kearnyirish2]

Ichabod Crane didn’t work for free; they called them “levies”, and they certainly collected them from property owners. It pre-dates the American Revolution.