Red staters are the moochers

Re: Romney's ridiculous and incensing 47% comments, this is the thing that always gets me, as ever—it's the red states that have the most non-payers, as you can see in the map below.

Just like it's the blue states that are carrying this country while the red states are sucking hardest at the federal teat. 

Comments

[cb]

And just who the hell are the true "non-payers" here?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2012/07/23/super-rich-hide-21-trillion-offshore-study-says/

[Paul]

Exactly. I love Barney Frank's response:

"Mitt Romney’s attack on the moral character of disabled veterans, elderly and disabled Social Security recipients, and hard-working Americans in low-wage jobs because they do not pay income taxes is especially galling given the great energy he has put into evading income taxes on his very high income. Many of those whom Mr. Romney impugns pay a significant portion of their income in payroll taxes which support Social Security and Medicare. And until Mr. Romney stops hiding his own tax records, we can speculate that those people pay a higher percentage of their income in these taxes than Mr. Romney does on his foreign accounts, tax shelters, and other evasive devices."

This is a great fact-based summary of who pays taxes and (this is key) at what point in their lives: http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/09/nontaxpayers-are-overwhelmingly-the-eldery-and-students.html

Basically, a lot of the 47 percent are students and the elderly (many of whom are Romney supporters!), who *shouldn't* be paying taxes at the point they are in their lives.