Mitt Romney, May 17, 2012:
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, 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. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
“It’s a changing country, the demographics are changing. It’s not a traditional America anymore, and there are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff. They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama.”
What I found most shocking about these
two quotes... and most similar... is the lack of any sort of
acknowledgment that people might actually deserve
“stuff”. Might actually be
“entitled.”
Is it possible that, if you work 60 hours a week, moving
constantly, doing the things that other people don't want to do for
themselves, stuff that requires lifting belts and work gloves, where
you don't get paid vacations or sick days, that you have earned
health care, food, and housing? Is that enough for Mitt Romney? Is it enough for Bill O'Reilly?
Here
in California, the minimum wage is $8.00/hour. Plenty of really
grueling jobs pay that wage. I'm not an accountant, and don't even do my own taxes... but I'll keep things simple. Here's the math for a family of four
with one full-time, one part-time job at minimum wage:
60
hours per week x 52 weeks per year x $8.00/hour: $24,960 gross pay
possible
...but
let's say four days per year, on average, they're too sick to work.
Because they're “contractors” instead of full-fledged employees,
they don't get paid sick time (it's rampant all over the place... my
mother-in-law has been a tech writer “on contract” for the last
13 years). So take off...
8
hours x 4 days x $8.00/hour: $256 so the gross is now $24,704. This
assumes no vacation, no taking a morning off to go see their kid's
holiday pageant at school, nothing.
But,
these are still wages, so in spite of no paid vacation or sick time,
they still pay payroll taxes. They're kind of complicated; there's
several different ones. At least the $110,000 wage cap for social
security deductions doesn't come into play. Here's what your
hypothetical family will be paying:
FICA +
Medicare: 7.65% of gross pay $24,704 = $1,889.86
Federal
Unemployment Insurance: 0.9%* of the first $7,000 = $63
State
Disability Insurance: 1.0% of gross pay $24,704 = $247.04
State
Unemployment Insurance: 1.5% to 6.2% depending on employer's record;
using average 3.85% of first $7,000 = $269.50
There's
also an Employment and Training Tax, but it maxes out at $7 and isn't
paid by all employers, so I'll just ignore it for now.
*
Usually FUI is 0.6%, but California is paying its bills late, so we
have to pay more into the Federal system.
The
grand total of all wage taxes paid in a year by this family is now
$2,469.40. But they haven't paid income taxes yet, so they're still
in that 47%.
What
do they have left at this point? $22,234.60 per year, for a family of
four.
So do
they pay income taxes? Well, let's take a look at the standard
deductions, and the Child Tax Credit:
This
family, assuming they're married, middle-aged, and not blind,
qualifies for a standard deduction of $11,600, though there's the
whole part about deducting the children and the tax credit. Some sources say such a family gets a total of $15,200 in deductions,
which makes their taxable income $7,034.60.
According
to the IRS tables for 2011, this family will owe $703 in Federal
income taxes. However, since they have two children and make less
than $110,000/year, they can claim $2,000 in child tax credits. These
are now the tax-free folks who actually get money back
from
the government after a negative Federal tax bill. They can receive a
credit of $1,297, to add to the $22,234.60 they take home.
We
haven't even looked at what that $23,531.60 will pay for. This family
has no
health insurance, no
401(k) or IRA, and has to buy housing, food, transportation,
clothing, and utilities. (But we're upset that they might get an
Obamaphone.)
Why
aren't they working more hours, though? Surely if they worked 80
hours a week, they'd be taxpaying citizens?
A
family with two parents who work a total of 60 hours a week can get
by without paying for childcare. Once you have two parents working
full-time, though, you have to pay someone to care for the kids when
they're not in school (if they're not under five and still not
eligible for free education... another thing we don't think these
people deserve). At minimum wage, the math just doesn't work out. Some families can rely on a grandparent or other relative for childcare, but if this person is not working, the wage-earning family likely is still somewhat responsible for the caregiver's expenses.
But
let's say that their local school happens to offer some sort of free
after school program, so they can both work 40 hours a week. Or one
works 30 and the other works two jobs... somehow they get to 80
hours. They are still
not paying taxes. With two children, you need a taxable income of
$19,000 or more to exceed the tax credit, and the 80-hour a week
minimum wage four-person family is at $14,634.92. Even if they get
bumped up to $9/hour and 80 hours/week, they're in the 47%.
All
they had to do was back-breaking, often humiliating, sometimes
dangerous work, cleaning up after other people, 80 hours a week. And
they think that this entitles
them
to health care, food, and housing? They think that they should have stuff?
In
the Republican world, poverty is not just a moral failing. Your
economic standing is a measure of your worth as a human being. If you
do not already
have
something, that is sufficient to determine that you are not deserving
of that thing.
“Them that's got shall get, them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, and it still is news.”
