As a candidate for president of the United States, Mitt Romney shockingly declared to a group of wealthy donors that nearly half of the American people 47 percent view themselves as "victims," entitled to handouts and unwilling to take "personal responsibility" for their lives.
But the truth is that the overwhelming majority of these 47 percent are seniors, working families, students or people with disabilities. The vast majority of these Americans pay a significant percentage of their income in taxes, whether they are federal payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes or other state and local taxes.
Well more than half 61 percent are workers who actually pay federal payroll taxes, which can include military families, cops, firefighters or teachers. Additionally, in 2011, these families included nearly 20 million seniors, more than half of all seniors in America. They also often pay even a higher share of their income in these taxes than wealthier families, such as Mitt Romney's.
After all this, there is really only one conclusion that we can make from these outrageous comments and that is it's hard to serve as a president of all Americans when you fail the character test and write off and insult half the country you want to lead.
Alesha Hanna, Tiffin
