Taxation Without Representation

District of Columbia Residents fulfill all the responsibilities of citizenship, but they do not share all the rights their fellow Americans have. Here are a few reasons why DC residents deserve voting representation in Congress.

1) DC residents pay the second highest per capita federal income taxes in the country.

2) DC residents are required to register with the U.S. Selective Services and have served to protect America's democracy in every war since the War for Independence:

• DC had 635 casualties in World War I - more than three states
• DC had 3,575 casualties in World War II - more than four states
• DC had 547 casualties in the Korean War - more than eight states
• DC had 243 casualties in the Vietnam War - more than ten states

3) DC's population, at 572,059, is nearly 100,000 more than the population of Wyoming (493,782). DC is close in population to six other states and has had a population as large as 800,000. DC should have the same proportional representation in Congress. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 1950 and Census 2000]

4) The US is actively promoting democracy abroad, while denying democracy to the American's living in the nation's capital. The fact that DC is the only capital of a democracy in the world that does not have full voting representation is an international embarrassment. While the US works to establish democracy for Iraqis, the residents of Washington, DC, have not had representation in the U.S. Congress for more than 200 years.

5) Denial of representation to DC residents is seen by some as discrimination against African-Americans and other minority groups. According to the U.S. Census 2000, the population of Washington, DC, is 60 percent African-American (the national average is 12.3 percent), and 9.3 percent other minority groups. No other jurisdiction in the United States has a majority African-American population. While partisan considerations certainly factor into the denial of democracy to District residents, there are people who believe that racial considerations also play an important part in the continued disenfranchisement of DC's residents.

There is hope that this will soon change.
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Deal Said To Advance Vote for D.C. In Congress

By Lori Montgomery and Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writers
May 10, 2006

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is teaming up with Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to introduce a bill that would for the first time give the District a full vote in the House, a sign of bi-partisan cooperation that advocates of D.C. voting rights hailed as a breakthrough. (full story)