No matter your own political leanings, the way you vote can have clear consequences for your personal finances. It may seem like politics only broadly touch our personal bank accounts, with promises of a chicken in every pot or plans to grow the number of jobs in a particular location. But there can be some far more direct connections between your finances and the way your representatives vote.
Local Government
Statistically, municipal and county elections have far lower voter turn outs than other elections. Ideally, those low numbers shouldn’t include anyone aware of their own personal finances due to the fact that local government has a high impact on how your money is spent. Between state, county and municipal governments, your pockets can wind up a good deal lighter. Your local governments determine your property taxes, set sales tax rates and even decides on the cost of certain services. It may seem like one vote can do little to change each of those payments you may be making, but at the local level, you can do a lot.
If you’re willing to invest time beyond simply voting, local campaigns always need volunteers and help. Due to campaign laws, a donation is not tax deductible, making volunteering a better bet for your personal finances. If you haven’t been involved in local politics very long, it may be difficult to help set policies, but it’s very easy to support candidates who agree with your beliefs.
Simply supporting a candidate who is for lowering taxes may not be the most practical approach, though. While no one wants to pay more, it’s important to see the whole picture of what you’re getting for each dollar: if you’re paying a little more in property taxes, are you getting a better education for your children at the local public school? After all, switching to a private school will be a lot more expensive.
Federal Government
As a general rule, the federal government has even more control over your personal finances — think about the chunk that the IRS takes every year — but can be harder for one person to influence. But it isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you’re already involved in local or state government. Everyone on the national level, from the President to congressional representatives, listen to activists and politicians on the municipal, county and state levels in setting their platforms. Even the campaign platforms in a presidential race are created in consultation with state party representatives.
Even if you aren’t in a position to support a candidate or a cause with time, donating money to a campaign can help make sure that the candidates with similar stances on issues make it into office. There have been several successful efforts to turn out the vote by people with an interest in seeing a particular candidate elected. For instance, the Freelancer’s Union has taken action to educate its members on which candidates directly support issues near and dear to their hearts, such as access to health insurance. The same organization has worked hard to get out to vote for the same candidates.
The most important point, though, is that you should investigate what your candidates support for yourself. Take a look at voting records and platforms before you choose to support a candidate. The more you know, the more you can be sure that you’re voting for someone who will take action on the issues that you see affecting your personal finances directly.
The More You Know About Politics
One of the limiting factors in whether someone is able to influence their own personal finances with a vote is knowledge about the issues at stake, as well as the candidates’ stances. It’s easy to say that there’s so much to know and no reason to try to figure it out. But the fact of the matter is that, unless you’re willing to invest some time learning about politics and how individual candidates can help you, you can’t make any changes.
That could be okay: it’s not impossible to think that someone will go out and vote the way you would want to. But it is fairly unlikely. Surprisingly few people agree on what needs to be done, politically speaking, in any given situation. If you feel strongly, personal involvement is a much better bet.
It doesn’t even have to be official involvement, like volunteering for a campaign. Even something as simple as talking with a friend or relative (who hopefully votes in the same elections you do) can allow you to share your reasoning for choosing a particular candidate. Even little steps can make a difference when it comes to both your personal finances and your politics.
The More You Know About Government
It’s worth noting that government and politics aren’t exactly the same thing. Government is the organization, such as the IRS, who collects a portion of your paycheck, whereas politics is when a representative campaigns to reduce the amount of taxes you pay. A good working knowledge of the government can have a positive impact on your personal finances and requires less involvement than politics. Just learning something about the tax code can help you save money, if only on tax preparation.
Local government can also have an incredible impact on your life if you run your own business and knowledge is necessary to navigate the rules established by your county and municipal governments. While the federal government may have some impact on your business, especially if you’re operating in multiple states, licenses, fees and all sorts of other factors have to be considered no matter what city you live in. That means a good working knowledge of the local government is particularly crucial for business owners.
There’s very few situations in which more knowledge of both politics and government won’t serve you well. Even if you aren’t at a point where actively getting involved makes sense, adding a few political sites or books to your reading list can help your personal finances in ways that you may not even expect.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
You make an important point about being educated about what’s going on. And that includes more than just listening to sound bites from one side or the other. Once you really know about the issues, you can start making decisions and supporting candidates and organizations that really can help you make a difference in your finances.
“the way you vote can have clear consequences for your personal finances.”
Unfortunately, it’s not the way I vote that has the consequences, it’s the way the majority votes, which is not usually the way I vote….
So I have to deal with the liberal tax increases that I don’t want…. whether I voted for them or not.
But that’s the way it works. So when everyone else votes themselves a piece of the pie, continually, (instead of what is good for the nation) one day they are going to come to a rude awakening, when those who make the pies stop making them as there is NOTHING in it anymore for the pie maker…. and that’s where the USA is headed…. sorry to say.
I have a feeling that most people just vote based on some particular issue, but it’s impossible for this to always work in your favor because the candidates don’t always do what they promise.
The better idea might be to figure out what their beliefs are and vote for the person with the belief system that is most similar to yours. At least this way, you will have a better chance that future policies will be shaped in a way you can agree with.
the politics in the country are so complicated that i gave up trying to make sense of it. They never keep their promises and their greed for power always causes a lot of economic instability and near civil wars. I prefer looking at global politics and government because these seem to be going in a certain general direction
It’s so true. Many people are simply apathetic to politics because they feel it won’t affect them. But it’s exactly the opposite. Politics can affect every aspect of your life as a citizen and unless you get involved, you’ll be losing out on a lot of things whether you realize it or not. Votes really do count.
Volunteering at a local political event is a great way to meet politicians and get the opportunity to ask questions that will affect your personal finances.
I think local polititians rely alot of voter disengagement to do what they want to. There’s alot of chat about beliefs but seldom clear “cost policy” it’s a joke