District of Columbia disenfranchisement
From dKosopedia
Category: District of Columbia
== District of Columbia disenfranchisement ==
History of the problem
- Visit this website until more information can be posted here. Also see the DC Vote site.
Current political status of DC
- No voting members of the House of Representatives (one non-voting Delegate has committee vote)
- No Senate representation
- No budget autonomy -- Congress has final say over federal and locally raised revenues
- No legislative autonomy -- Congress has veto power over all legislation passed by DC's locally elected representatives (the city council)
- No locally elected district attorney to prosecute local criminals (local prosecutor is appointed by the federal government)
Other consequences of DC disenfranchisement
Proposed solutions
- Retrocession to Maryland
- Virtual retrocession: treating DC as part of Maryland for purposes of congressional representation
- Statehood
- Virtual statehood
- Partial solutions (limited voting rights)
Facts about DC
- Population of 572,000 (in 2000 census), which is more than Wyoming and within 30 percent of Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Delaware.
- Nearly two-thirds African-American
- Residents are fully liable for federal income taxes, the same as the rest of the country
- Residents are subject to Selective Service and draft, the same as the rest of the country
- Over 45% of the land is non-taxable because of embassies, government buildings, and non-profits
- Only jurisdiction in the U.S. that cannot legally tax income at its source, so billions of dollars in state income taxes earned in DC go to Maryland and Virginia every year.
- DC city council has two Republican members.
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