Fayette, Greene full of 47 percent
Mitt Romney hates you.
Yes, you.
Odds are you’ve heard about Romney’s plutocratic screed secretly recorded at a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser, where he said he didn’t care about the 47 percent of America that are worthless, lazy moochers.
And, based on the demographics in Fayette and Greene County, odds are Romney includes you and your friends, neighbors and relatives in that category.
You see, Romney said those 47 percent who don’t pay income taxes and will vote for President Obama no matter what are the group of worthless Americans who are “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the 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.”
There’s been plenty of ink and airtime spent on how this may hurt Romney (because, you know, he just insulted half the country as nogoodniks) but also how it may have a limited impact because most voters don’t consider themselves in the 47 percent that Romney bashed — even if they actually are part of that group.
So let me, dear reader, put your mind at ease: If you live in Fayette or Greene County, odds are good that he was, in fact, talking about you or someone you love.
Let’s look at the numbers, shall we?
The Washington Post has helpfully pointed out that the 47 percent who don’t pay income tax can be broken down into three smaller groups: 28.3 percent don’t pay federal income tax because they don’t earn enough to qualify but do pay payroll taxes; 10.3 percent don’t pay income tax because they’re retired and elderly; and 6.9 percent don’t pay income or payroll taxes because they make less than $20,000 a year and are exempt from both.
Of these three groups — the working poor, the elderly and the very poor — Fayette and Greene County have each one in spades.
The Working Poor – 28.3 percent
The largest chunk of the 47 percent Romney calls parasites are the 28.3 percent who don’t pay federal income tax but do pay payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. These are people who have jobs, despite Romney saying they’ll never take “personal responsibility and care for their lives,” and struggle to make ends meet.
So why don’t they pay income taxes? Because they’re too poor to have a tax liability. Thanks in large part to GOP tax cuts, a family of four making less than $26,400 a year, for example, doesn’t pay income tax. Yet few outside of Romney and his ilk would call them moochers — they do pay taxes!
In case you were wondering, 37.57 percent of Fayette County residents and 30.81 percent in Greene County make less than $25,000 a year. Not all of them are families of four, granted, but you get the idea.
The Elderly – 10.3 percent
Now that we’ve accounted for a large part of the group Romney thinks as being worthless takers, we can’t forget to count the 10.3 percent of income tax non-payers whom don’t send a check to the IRS because they’re retired and elderly. You see, Social Security benefits are not treated the same as other income, so they are less likely to be liable for income tax. Considering all the platitudes and promises Romney lavishes on those over 65, it’s odd he thinks they’re all bums. But yet that’s what he said.
I hope he doesn’t visit here, because, boy, do we have bums here in our area. A full 18 percent of Fayette County residents are over age 65 and Greene County has 15.4 percent over age 65.
The Very Poor – 6.9 percent
The remaining part of the parasitic 47 percent are those who aren’t over age 65 but make less than $20,000 a year, meaning they don’t pay income or payroll taxes. While Census numbers don’t break at $20,000, we do know that 20.49 percent of Fayette County and 17.56 percent of Greene County are worse off than that, making less than $15,000 a year. These people can barely afford food and shelter. Few would argue we should be raising taxes on them.
The Rest
Of course, we can’t forget those military men and women whose pay is exempt from income tax. I bet they’d be pretty surprised to hear they’re really not capable of taking responsibility for their own lives.
Then there are those who are “dependent on the government” like those collecting unemployment (8.2 percent Fayette; 6.3 percent Greene) and those “who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them” like those collecting Social Security and Medicare. What a bunch of losers!
Add it all up, even accounting for overlap, and remove the roughly 20 percent of each county who is under age 18, the odds are that you or someone you love should, in Romney’s estimation, go fly a kite.
If you think it’s odd the same party that thinks people pay too much in taxes is so worked up about people not paying taxes, Brandon Szuminsky can be reached at bszuminsky@heraldstandard.com.