Thursday, September 20, 2012

"%"

We were watching one of the national news channels yesterday and all they talked about was “%”.  It dawned on us that all this presidential campaign seems to be focused on is “%”.
The top 1%!
The remaining 99%!
What % Romney paid in taxes!
8.1% unemployed!
Obama’s #*% approval rating!
Romney’s #* disapproval rating!
The president #*% lead in battleground states!
Etc…etc…
Thanks to Governor Romney the latest “%” to flood the airwaves is the 47% that Governor Romney says do not pay taxes.  He went on to “in artfully” describe this 47% of the country as folks who “believe that they are victims, who believe the government has the responsibility to care for them , who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing...you name it.”
We should point out that Romney is correct; 46.4% of Americans do not pay any federal income tax.
So who are these people that the governor says “don’t take care and responsibility for their own lives.”  According to the Tax Policy Center that 46.4% is made up of the following:
28.3% are WORKING Americans who due to tax credits and deductions DO NOT pay federal income tax but DO pay payroll taxes.
10.3% are elderly who don’t pay taxes because they are on social security
6.9% are non-elderly making less than $20,000 per year.
1% or “Other” which include some of the top 1% wage earners who do not pay any taxes due to losses or loopholes in the tax code.
This does not seem to be a bunch of moochers bent on scamming the system.
In keeping with our “%” theme party here’s another “%” for you to consider.
Romney and a lot of conservatives say that the top 1% wage earners pay an overwhelming % of all the taxes paid in this country.  That is factually not true.  We do have a progressive federal tax system in this country.  The more you earn the higher % of your earnings you pay in federal taxes.
But that is not the case with state and local taxes.  State and local taxes are regressive.  Those making under $20,000 pay 12.3% of their income in state and local taxes while the top 1% wage earners pay 7.9%.
The bottom line is those at the top earn 21.0% of all income generated in the country and pay 21.6% of all federal, state and local taxes.  Those at the bottom earn 3.4% of the nation’s income and pay 2.1% of the nation’s taxes.
The Romney campaign has tried to make this campaign about two things: 1) a referendum on the president’s policies and 2) tax cuts.  He hasn’t given us anything in the way of specifics as to how he would run the country.  He just wants us to believe that half of the country is mooching off the hard work of the other half.  The moochers support the president and his big government ideas.
So here are one more set of “%” for you and the governor to consider…
According to the latest polls the governor trails the president by 7 percentage points in Ohio and Virginia and by 5 percentage points in Florida.  He trails the president by 7 percentage points nationally.
Romney’s strategy isn’t working.  If he wants to win he needs to stop insulting the 47% and provide some specifics on how he intends to run this country.     
   






No comments:

Post a Comment