Disclaimer: This post was written in five minutes while a 4 year old was whining at me to look at Where’s Waldo books with him. It’s barely coherent and has not been proofread. But I mention a dancing horse and I curse. So enjoy!
OK, so by now we all know about the thing Mitt said about 47% of Americans paying no income tax and feeling entitled to food and shelter from government sources. And we all took to twitter and collectively said “Dude! You’re talking about people on Social Security and veterans! Have you no shame, man?” So, Mitt went on Fox News today and said this:
“There are a number of retirees, members of the military and so forth who aren’t paying taxes, and that’s as it should be,” the GOP presidential nominee told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto. “But I do believe we should have enough jobs and take-home pay such that people have the privilege of higher incomes that allow them to be paying taxes. I think people would like to be paying taxes. The good news is if you’re doing well enough financially that you can pay a tax. And the problem right now is you see in this country so many people have fallen into poverty that they’re not paying taxes they have to rely on government and the right course to help them is not just to have government handing out but instead government helping people to get back to good jobs.”
And my head burst into tiny little pieces that flew all over my living room.
First of all, the thing about people liking to pay taxes? From a guy who’s effective tax rate is about half of what my effective tax rate is because he shelters all his damn money in foundations and offshore accounts? That’s rich. Really fucking rich. Mitt Romney CLEARLY prefers not to pay taxes, and he yaps all the time about cutting taxes and here he is saying that 47% of Americans don’t pay taxes now but are just panting to do so.
Then he says that the reason that people don’t pay taxes is because wages are too low and NO SHIT SHERLOCK! The federal minimum wage is $7 an hour! You know why? Because people who runt he kind of companies that hire Mitt’s old employer Bain Consulting work their asses off to keep wage mandates low s they don’t have to cut into profits by paying pesky living wages. So, if we take this to an only slightly illogical conclusion, people are too poor to owe taxes and it’s ALL MITT’S FAULT!
And we’re supposed to want him as President? I don’t think so. Not for all the dancing horses in the world.
Here, Here!!