Three Republican senators are apparently so anxious to suppress Democratic-leaning voters that they have gone to an extreme considered heresy in the GOP: They’re proposing a tax increase. Young voters, especially college-aged students, have been trending Democratic in recent elections. Often rallied by campus get-out-the-vote efforts, students can be a significant factor in college-town elections.
So Sens. Bill Cook, Ron Rabin and Norman Sanderson have sponsored tax increase legislation that would target the families of such students. If a student were to register to vote in a district other than that of his or her parents, those parents would lose their child’s $2,000 tax exemption on their state income tax returns.
In short, these senators are proposing a $140-a-year per dependent tax increase on families with college students. Their rationale, according to a statement quoted by the Asheville Citizen-Times, is to “equalize the playing field for all voters in our state.”
How penalizing some voters by $140 a year equalizes voting is beyond us, but their bill sends a clear message: The students should vote where the GOP wants them to vote.
Full Article: Editorial: Ill-conceived legislation would penalize young voters – Winston-Salem Journal: Editorials.