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Subscribe to RSSThe White House announced Tuesday that, beginning this weekend, presidential limousines will bear the District of Columbia license plate that includes the phrase "Taxation Without Representation."
The license plate, created in 2000, adorns most of D.C.'s vehicles with a pithy reminder that residents of the capital city do not have voting representatives in the House or Senate. New registrants in the city now receive the tags automatically unless they opt for another type of license plate.
The saying has become a rally cry for proponents of D.C. statehood.
"President Obama has lived in the District now for four years, and has seen first-hand how patently unfair it is for working families in D.C. to work hard, raise children and pay taxes, without having a vote in Congress," said White House spokesman Keith Maley. "Attaching these plates to the presidential vehicles demonstrates the President's commitment to the principle of full representation for the people of the District of Columbia and his willingness to fight for voting rights, Home Rule and budget autonomy for the District."
The license plates will be affixed to presidential vehicles in time for the weekend’s inaugural festivities and remain in place for the duration of Obama's presidency.
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He thinks "bare arms" are what you get when you don't have sleeves on your shirt...
He thinks the "Taxation without Representation" plates are something nice in support of his agenda.
Oops.
What's with all the heavily armed guys dressed in black around DC? They all have assault rifles and body armor. I thought guns were illegal in DC. Why do these guys need to be there? This must have something to do with the taxation without representation issue?
It is a myth that DC doesn't have elected representatives. First of all they do have 1 representative who can vote on procedural matters in congress and congressional committees. They also get three electoral votes for presidential elections. All that aside the city is a federal district and as such is under the jurisdiction of the whole congress thus Washington DC effectively has 435 representatives. And the entire district of Columbia is only around 70 square miles not counting roughly 15 square miles of non-residential parkland and with a strong majority of the people actually living outside of DC and commuting into the city.
Thus DC has no need of an elected representative.
good post however the 435 "representatives" do not care about representing DC. As a Congressman the Dc committee in Congress is one that you get assigned to you if you got some powerful member in Congressional hierarchy mad. It is political suicide/isolation
Candlewycke, They have no Senator and the Congress representative is not a full member as you noted. They cannot vote in or out any of the other 435 members of Congress so the lack of representation is not a "myth", it is a fact. What influence do you have on a Senator from Colorado if you live in Florida? You have none, just as the citizens of DC have no influence on any member of the House or Senate, except for the singular figurehead representive. The citizens of DC cannot vote for any of the 535 members of the House and Senate, so they do not get to elect any of them...
Amazing how unimportant this issue is to someone like you who doesn't have this problem.
The taxation without representation motto is something the GOP should leverage. Obama's dictatorship and default actions are raising taxes. The motto should be the anti-Obama motto.
Rober there is taxation without representation but it is not the President doing the non representing. Congress has defied the general public at every turn and is now playing the role of terrorist over the debt ceiling debate.
For the majority of Wash DC, they already have representation without taxation
The president has signaled his intention to seek comprehensive immigration reform and new, stricter controls on firearms – two initiatives that could split conservatives who want to hold the ideological line from Republicans who wish to shed the party's image of intractability, and cut some sort of a deal with Obama.
These issues need not be made into law, it's a waste of money, and resources. Hard-line Dems, always argue about economic benefits of a trillion folds of business into the ailing consumer market (refer to the L.A. Mayor's comment to the national press club in Washington)--the truth is illegals repatriate their earnings and monies to their mother countries that they forever will be loyal to. That being so, will drain capital from the American economy--plunder may be the right term for bogus economic promise. That is just one example of lies in a dubious political setting. In reality, where it all boils down to is unlimited political patronage from the party in power.
@American Taliban: you are such a freak'n numb nut. Go kiss yourself!!!!!!!!!LMFAO
Waah F'n Waah...I'm sorry residents of D.C., but yes, you are taxed and do not have equal representation. You do elect a Representative to voice your issues in Congress, but because of the U.S. Constitution, you don't get a vote. To get a vote in Congress, you have to be a state. If you want to vote, stop being the District of Columbia. Puerto Rico doesn't have a vote, either, nor does Guam. So Stop your whining. President Obama, you and your administration should be ashamed of yourselves for pushing an illegal and Unconstitutional agenda with your new license plates.
Maybe I missed it in the article, but what makes the writer think that any individual in any other state has any in taxation?
Sounds like horse@!$%# to me.
Just one more indication of Obama's disdain for our constitution.
Can someone in DC send me one of those tags...whenever I pay any federal tax I'm left wondering what representation I get for those tax dollars...the government better be very careful before they start a fire they can't put out...
And the Tea Party has a right to complain more than DC population? Must serve a lot of baloney at the tea party.
The so called representation we get elsewhere is not worth taxation.
Strange that the article didn't mention *why* there is no congressional representation for Washington D.C. DC was created to be *not* part of any state on purpose so that the residents of the National Capital would not have un-due influence over the (much larger) rest of the country. What would happen if DC did have a Senator. would the rest of the Senate KowTow to the "Big Guy" from DC? You can bet they would. No congressional membership for DC; ever. Don't like it? Move to one of the neighboring states and commute.