Today we learned Mitt Romney doesn’t like people who don’t pay Federal Income Taxes. Of the 47% of Americans who don’t pay income tax, Romney said this:
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it… [M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
According to the Tax Policy Center, nearly two-thirds of households that paid no income tax did pay payroll taxes. Which means they are working and are not, in fact, “dependent on government”. And of the small number of households that didn’t pay either, more than half were elderly.
It’s also worth mentioning another group of people who don’t pay federal income tax and who Romney thinks are “dependent upon government” for their health care, food and housing: members of the military currently deployed in a combat zone like Afghanistan.
I always thought Mitt Romney was more like Monty Burns – but today he proved he has a lot in common with Homer Simpson who, upon hearing a news broadcast about Proposition 305, which would provide discount bus fares for the wives of dead military personnel, angrily responded: “Mooching War Widows!”
