In Chapter 8, titled Of the Extension of the Suffrage, Mill writes: “It is also important, that the assembly which votes the taxes, either general or local, should be elected exclusively by those who pay something towards the taxes imposed. Those who pay no taxes, disposing by their votes of other people’s money, have every motive to be lavish and none to economise.”
As Mill saw it, “As far as money matters are concerned, any power of voting possessed by them is a violation of the fundamental principle of free government... It amounts to allowing them to put their hands into other people’s pockets for any purpose which they think fit to call a public one. I regard it as required by first principles, that receipt of [government] relief should be a peremptory disqualification for the [voting] franchise.”
Mill’s peremptory voter disqualification is unthinkable today. In our times, the definition of “public assistance” includes, not just welfare payments, but programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Yet, Mill’s arguments are not without intellectual merit. It can be argued that, allowing those who pay no taxes, or those who live off the government, to vote on taxation issues is a violation of the fundamental principle of free government. Such voters are a “fifth column” that undermines democracy from within. In this view, invoking the Anna Karenina principle, such voting rights are a democratic deficiency that must be avoided in order to save democracy from itself.
However, Mill’s arguments begin to fail when we consider some logical extensions. Should government employees also be excluded from voting? After all, government employees are directly being paid with tax receipts. This is certainly a conflict of interests. How about private government contractors that derive most of their income from government jobs? Should they also be excluded for conflict of interest reasons?
Democracy is messy, and we cannot avoid every possible deficiency. We need to decide who may govern, but in such a way that we will not be misgoverned. For this we need widespread voting rights.
