It’s your vote for your money.
If you’re someone who doesn’t vote because you think your vote won’t count or because you think that elections won’t affect you, I have big news for you. The people who are elected have a huge impact on our money, so whether you have a lot of money or not enough of it, elections affect every single one of us. Before we get into it, I’m not going to express my opinion on who you should be voting for, but I hope that this will help you understand why it is so, very important for every single one of us who can vote, to vote.
So what does voting have to do with your money? Casting your support for which people will be running things in America definitely impacts your personal life – like, for example, whether women have access to safe and legal abortions – as well as your financial life, like whether you have access to affordable healthcare and education, the amount of taxes you pay, and the stock market. By not voting, you’re allowing someone else to make this decision for you.
One big way that public policy affects us financially? Taxes!
You know how it’s really annoying to get your paycheck and see that so much of it was taken out in taxes? If they’re going to be taking a portion of your paycheck, don’t you want to at least have a say in how they’ll be spending it to benefit you and your community? Voting means having a say in electing the people who not only decide how much taxes you’ll pay, but also what the government does with those taxes.
A few ways that taxes get spent that affect us every day include access to education, supporting infrastructure – which makes sure bridges don’t fall down, pipes don’t break, and the roads and highways we use are safe – protecting our environmental resources, like the national parks we visit on vacations, making sure the food and drugs that we consume are safe, and unemployment insurance, which – as many of us know – was a huge part of 2020 for many Americans. Some other ways our tax money is spent include support for veterans and federal employees, national defense and security, which is a huge part of government spending, support for programs like Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and Social Security, and paying down the country’s considerable debt.
You’re also voting for the people who will make decisions on things like the taxes that companies pay, or the amount of tax people need to pay when selling property, taxes on capital gains and dividends from investments, which also goes towards things like paying down government debt or supporting the previously mentioned government programs. The policies created by these elected legislators can also affect how your side hustle and freelancing work is taxed. Remember the $1200 or less stimulus check you may or may not have received a while ago? Support for citizens and small businesses during a crisis are also things that get decided by the people you elect.
Voting can also affect your job. The people who are elected make decisions that can affect minimum wage, fairness in hiring, equal pay, job security, workplace safety, and employer sponsored health insurance. This means that you’re voting to make sure that when you go to work, you can expect to get paid fairly, not be discriminated against, and work in a safe environment with affordable access to healthcare.
Who you vote for also affects who gets nominated or appointed to non-elected positions. One example that is being widely talked about right now is the Supreme Court after the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The president nominates someone when there is a vacancy on the Court, and then this nominee is voted on and confirmed (or not confirmed) by the senate. While you might not be directly voting for the next Supreme Court Justice, you are voting for the people who will be in charge of appointing and confirming these people in positions of power and can impact decisions like protection from discrimination due to gender, sexuality, race, and disability. For example, Ruth Bader Ginsberg had a huge impact on women’s finances and wealth by providing women with the right to have a bank account or sign a mortgage without a male co-signer, amongst other things.
In addition, these non-elected and appointed positions influence the economy. For example, the next president could elect a new chairman of the Federal Reserve, which is the U.S.’s central banking system. This person in turn can influence interest rates, which can affect things like stock market performance, inflation, unemployment, and the future cost of government debt. And, like we just talked about, we know that the taxes we pay go towards paying off that government debt, stock market performance will determine whether we lose or gain money in our investment portfolios like our retirement accounts, and obviously, unemployment will drastically affect our bank accounts – and the support we get, or don’t get, from the government during unemployment.
Another example is the trade war between the U.S. and China, which is something that the people we vote for will be working on. While this is an extremely complicated issue and I want to state clearly that I am oversimplifying it here, this can affect things like whether a product becomes more or less expensive and whether there’s an increase or decrease in the number of available jobs in the U.S.
Every election, whether at the local level or federal level, can affect everything from your taxes, access to affordable education and healthcare, and job security. Your vote does count, and it will impact your bank account!
Voting means having a say not only on who the president is, but on all of these issues. If you don’t vote, someone else will vote for you – meaning someone else is making decisions about your taxes, job security, and even how much you’ll be paying to buy gifts over the holidays. That’s why it’s important that we all go out to vote.
Lastly, if you do have some money or time to spare and want to contribute towards the election, there’s plenty of ways to do that! You can donate towards your party’s campaign or volunteer with organizations that help people vote. Every election year is important, and every vote is important. I hope this helped to emphasize how the people who get elected impact every one of us (and our wallets), and are feeling encouraged and compelled to cast your vote in the next election!