Romney and his family finances

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has made comments about the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income tax.

He said they are people who are “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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.”
This has really stuck with me.

I was not only shocked to learn that a huge portion of our population is not paying their fair share of taxes, but also to learn they are all lazy, taking advantage of the government handouts and living lives of dependency.

At least, that is what Romney said.

Who exactly falls into this category of moochers who don’t pay income taxes?

According to the Tax Policy Center, those who make less than $20,000 annually don’t pay income taxes. Of the non-income tax payers, about two-thirds of those people pay payroll taxes.

If you’re a single parent with kids and your income falls below a certain threshold, you don’t have to pay income taxes. If you’re a student working a job and you don’t make more than $20,000 a year, you don’t have to pay income taxes.

If you’re elderly and work part time and you don’t make more than $20,000 a year, you don’t have to pay income taxes. Does that make the elderly, the working poor and students dependent on government?

Do all of these people believe the government has a responsibility to care for them from the cradle to the grave?

Romney said yes.

I don’t think that just because you don’t make a certain amount of money in a given year, you can’t take care of yourself.

It doesn’t mean that you are dependent on government to solve every one of your life’s problems.

It certainly doesn’t mean you are playing the victim and feel entitled to benefits and government handouts.

In fact, Romney’s own father was on welfare during his early years in the United States.

Romney’s mother, Lenore, described her husband’s situation, saying “he was a refugee from Mexico. He was on relief — welfare relief — for the first years of his life. But this great country gave him opportunities.”

As a recipient of welfare benefits as a poor citizen, Romney’s father was not dependent.

He was not a moocher who felt entitled to government benefits. George Romney worked hard and took advantage of the government assistance to create opportunities for himself and his family.

He went on to become the Michigan governor and an extremely successful person.

Perhaps Romney should learn more about his own family’s relationship with poverty before he passes judgment on 47 percent of Americans who find themselves in a difficult situation.

­— sydhoffe@indiana.edu