Moving an amendment to the Reform Bill which would give women the same political rights as men Mill argued, ‘It violates one of the oldest of our constitutional maxims a doctrine dear to Reformers, and theoretically acknowledged by most Conservatives that taxation and representation should be co-extensive. Do not women pay taxes? Does not every woman who is sui juris contribute exactly as much to the revenue as a man who has the same electoral qualification? If a stake in the country means anything, the owner of freehold or leasehold property has the same stake, whether it is owned by a man or a woman’.