Is it really a good thing that about 30% of Americans don't pay any income taxes? Then they can be in a position to push for more government programs without worrying at all about how we will pay for those programs. When our country was young, most states required that voters owned property because the Founders believed that only property holders would think carefully about how the government worked. It wasn't until the 1820s and 30s that states removed property qualifications for voting. That was also the era when political campaigns began and politicians all tried to portray themselves as common man of the people. The biggest insult that could be targeted at a politician, such as Martin Van Buren, was that he was effete. William Henry Harrison hid that he was born on a plantation in Virginia and allowed himself to be portrayed as a frontier yahoo who lived in a log cabin and chugged hard cider all day.