Lowering the voting age to 16 makes sense on paper. Many people at that age work, pay taxes, and take on real responsibilities. But let’s be honest, parties don’t push changes like this unless they believe it gives them an electoral edge
* They are restricted in what jobs they do, and are supposed to be either in education or doing apprenticeships or similar
* They cannot drive until they are 17
* They cannot purchase alcohol, knives and many other things
* They cannot get married
* They cannot get tattoos
Its very much that they think it will favour them. I think it might very well not do so - while they will net vote for Labour its not by a huge margin and its changing. I wonder whether the government are overly influenced by the huge margin they enjoy with privileged people in that age group - i.e. the ones they meet.
Under 16s also pay income taxes in they have income. They also pay various other taxes such as VAT. Non-citizens pay taxes but do not get to vote.
The general expectation is that they should be in full time education or training until they are 18.
All that makes "a minority of people in this age group pay taxes" a very weak argument for giving all of them the vote.
I think there are also some tax incentives that are designed to make employers more friendly to the idea of hiring a young workforce - all to offset the "cost" of training people, but of course this is just used by mega-corps to have a perpetual stream of extremely cheap labour for frontline staff. (Argos, McDonalds).
So it's possible that not only do they not pay tax, that also their employment is partially subsidised by tax.
But no matter how low their earnings, all employees must be registered for PAYE from age 16 onwards and will receive an annual P60, as well as a P45 when they leave.
Also, while some 16-year olds work and pay taxes, the majority do not. So a blanket right to vote is not justified even by this strange criterion.
"So if democracy is so great, and voting rights are so important, why don't you let us vote on anything that matters to us?"
"So taxation without representation... that's like me, right?"
"So if universal suffrage is important, are people like me included in the universe?"
"So we can (in the UK) potentially join the army or navy at 16, and possibly die in dangerous training or even fighting in a war, but we don't get to vote?"
No combat until 18.
- Couldn't you argue parties don't promote changes like this to protect their interests too?
Not in the UK, particularly England. With the requirement to remain in education/do an apprenticeship/perform a mixture of work and part time education (in England), combined with our the personal allowance, very very few 16-18 year olds pay any tax or national insurance.
According to ChatGPT, data from the ONS in 2021 shows the average weekly earnings for 16-17 year olds was about £160, well below the personal allowance and NI thresholds