What Romney Didn't Say About the 47 Percent

Recently there was a video released where Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stated that about half of Americans do not pay taxes and are dependent on government. Here is what Romney said: "There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47% 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. But that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax."

Well Romney was right that about 47% of Americans do not pay federal income tax. However, he was not being totally honest about those 47% of Americans who do not pay income tax.

Here is the truth about the 47%:
More than 60% of those who don't pay income tax are working Americans. All Americans who work must pay a payroll tax. The payroll tax helps support Social Security and Medicare and is automatically taken out of every working American's paycheck. There are very few Americans paying no federal tax at all.

As far as those who do not pay any income taxes, sometimes they have a valid reason not to. The majority of these people are the elderly who have no jobs and are most likely retired, individuals below the poverty line, and students who more often don't have an income besides loans, grants and scholarships. These individuals should not be forced to pay income taxes seeing that if they were they would not be able to support their families and lifestyles. Also, a few of those who are not paying federal income taxes are the top earners who have found various ways to avoid paying them. More than 20,000 high earners did not pay federal taxes through a combination of credits and deductions.

The truth is the 47 percent are people who do pay some form of federal tax or are not capable, at the time, of doing so. With a few who are rich who avoid paying income taxes. The truth is these people do not believe that they are victims. These people do not believe the government has a responsibility to care for them. These Americans do not believe they are entitled to anything but fair treatment and an equal opportunity.