You’ve heard about Mitt Romney’s “sedret” speech to a crowd of high rollers, in which he dissed the working poor and seniors as well as anyone else who’s struggling in this country? Well, I just came across this chart at Balloon Juice, and couldn’t help but share.
In case you can’t read the tiny print, the “red” states are the top 10 for highest percentage of people who don’t pay any federal income tax.
Oh yeah, those dirty rotten no-good freeloaders with their sense of entitlement and dependency on the federal government… IN THE DEEP SOUTH. Yeah, I bet Obama’s gonna clean up down there.
Oh, the irony.
Did anyone catch Bay Buchanan’s sputtering double-down on CNN today?
It was such an inept eye-roller that even the Democrat they had “on balance” was almost speechless.
All she had to do was stand back and watch the smoke pour out of Buchanan’s ears!
who most rely on the benefits voting to harm themselves, it’s important that we not let the right wing framing take hold.
There is NO “culture of dependency” nor is there an unearned sense of entitlement. The statistics have been clear since time immemorial. People are on welfare for an average of 2 years – which means it does what it’s supposed to do: provide a leg up.
The rest of the programs are paid for via our payroll taxes, which are paid by everyone who receives a paycheck, no matter how small.
Income tax and Payroll tax are two different things. We decided, as a nation, that people who earn too little money to support themselves should not be further burdened by an income tax. However, we do still require them to pay into the national programs that create a safety net for everyone. Everyone pays into these programs, unless they subsist solely on capital gains (cough … romney .. cough) or they get paid in cash under the table.
We ARE all entitled to these programs, because we all PAID for them. It is an entitlement we earned.
So, who is the moocher, dependent on the US taxpayer? I posit it’s Romney – who has benefited directly from millions of dollars from federal programs, most of which he pocketed (cough … Olympics subsidy … Bain bailout … cough).
Romney said 47% of Americans pay no federal tax. Look at the map. None of the states, including the red ones are at 47%. The numbers don’t match his speech.