By Money Ning
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
