(if this isn't the full video of his remarks please do let me know. This is what I could find.)
As a lower middle-class citizen I have only had to pay federal income taxes at tax time once during my lifetime. If you take a look at the main idea that Romney conveyed I totally agree with it. If a person is government dependent and you have a politician who is going to enable that mode of thinking and even encourage it then the person is most likely going to support that politician. But there are people in an in-between status who aren't on government assistance but are struggling to makes ends meet or to meet their bills month-to-month and that's the category that I'm in. This can be due to lack of skills, lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of education, lack of employment available, credit issues which sometimes jobs base their hiring, high rate of college tuition payment, or even because of health problems. All I am saying is that there is a good number of citizens out there who don't receive government assistance and who are struggling to meet their bills each month. We need to make the case to these people that high taxes is in fact going to hurt them, not help them. We need to explain to them sound fiscal economics and that the financial pie is not limited to a certain amount of growth but can grow by leaps and bounds. If the correct economic policies - the policies which were instituted during Reagan - are put into place each person can help to make their own destiny.
Every person has a chance to change their situation for the better. Citizens do not have to be stuck in a rut. Citizens do not have to be dependent on the government. We just need to show them a way out. My husband is in the midst of trying something new which I hope benefits us financially. I have dealt with so many health problems over the years that I've either had to work retail, fast food, or my low paying landscaping job. And when I was given the chance to work in a doctor's office by my ophthalmologist back in Maryland office politics or jealousy by the office ladies got involved. I knew computers, copiers, fax machines but didn't know the insurance programs or some other medical office procedures but was willing to learn. The owner (the doctor) of the practice gave me a chance or tried to but others weren't so willing. He gave me a chance but the office ladies weren't happy that he went over their head and actually made a staff decision. He was willing to train me, even to send me away to take a class but the office ladies weren't willing to go along with his plan. They lied and said that I wasn't learning the office procedures. I know that I was. A couple of the medical staff couldn't understand what the office staff's problem was, they said that I was doing just fine for only being there a month. So, after a month I was let go. Believe me I let my doctor know how I felt that I was wronged. I just had a hysterectomy because of having severe endometriosis and issues surrounding that disease. I have dealing with issues related to endo for over 16 years. But now I can begin anew and am planning on taking courses starting in the spring of 2013 to become a medical assistant. I love working with people and have been interested in the medical field for quite awhile. This will also help to better my finances. I also have other ideas for hobbies or side jobs which will hopefully better my income as well.
I heard the percentage of people who are on food stamps, Medicaid or some type of government program is 33% (not sure where I heard this or whether the number is accurate). So IMO that number would have been more appropriate for Mitt to refer to.
Is it true that citizens on government programs don't pay income taxes? While looking through information on Medicaid I didn't see any mention of them paying taxes on this so I'm guessing that those on Welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Disability don't pay federal income taxes. Those on Social Security may or may not pay federal income taxes on their income. It depends on the person's or couple's income. But for purposes of simplicity I'll just use the 33% number for those people on government assistance who don't pay federal income taxes.
This chart is from 2010:
Government Assistance Expands:
More than one in three Americans lived in households that received Medicaid, food stamps or other means-based government assistance in mid-2010, according to a new report.
And when Social Security, Medicare and unemployment benefits are included, nearly half of the nation lived in a household that received a government check, according to the analysis of third-quarter 2010 Census data done by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a libertarian-leaning think tank. That's more than 148 million Americans.
Those numbers are on their way up thanks to the Great Recession and its aftermath, which have pushed record numbers of people onto public assistance programs. In particular, the stubbornly high unemployment rate has left millions of Americans in dire straits.
In 2008, one-quarter of people lived in households receiving a government lifeline and about 45 percent a government check, according to the Census Bureau.
The nation's safety net has become fodder for the 2012 election. Republican presidential candidates have accused President Obama and his party of turning America into an entitlement nation.
The federal government sent a record $2 trillion to individuals in fiscal 2010, up nearly 75% from 10 years earlier.
The first sentence would indicate that my 33% number is right on the money.
Should Romney write off the 47%? No. I am not saying that these people should be his primary focus for getting votes but many of these people are really struggling and see Obama as not doing enough for them or having abandoned them. This is a time when we need to reach out to these people, those people who are willing to listen, and explain to them conservative principles and give them some of the historical background of the United States. It is a high probability that these people haven't been taught the Constitution or the Founding of our country nor about the idea(s) that the United States of America was founded on.
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