TORONTO – A leaked video that showed U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney claiming that 47 per cent of Americans do not pay taxes continued to overshadow his campaign on Tuesday.
The video, released on the website of the left wing political magazine Mother Jones, showed Romney dismissing Obama supporters as people who “believe that they are victims,” live off government handouts and “don’t care for their lives.”
“There are 47 per cent who are with him, 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,” Romney said in the video, taken secretly at a fundraising event earlier this year.
The leaked clip garnered over 1.9
million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours. In comparison, the most-watched
video from the Romney campaign, an ad called “Doing Fine?,” received only 1.3
million views since it was posted in June.
Get daily National news
At a hastily called news conference on Monday, Romney conceded that the comments were “not elegantly stated” and he “spoke off the cuff.” However, he added that Obama’s approach is “attractive to people who are not paying taxes.”
Reaction to the leaked video poured in almost immediately on social media, including many political writers and columnists chiming in with their reaction.
National political writer for CBS Scott Paulson tweeted, “#RomneyVideos Sadly, it’s another diversion from the issues that really matter in this election. A nearly thoughtless off-the-cuff remark.”
Blogger and columnist for Washington Post Ezra Klein tweeted, “1. What I like least about Romney’s comments is the idea that the working poor don’t “take responsibility for their lives.”
Others, such as political reporter for Slate Dave Weigel, took a comical approach in response to Romney’s statement. He tweeted:
“It’s morning again in 53% of America.”
However, according to reports by The Guardian, Romney’s assertion that 47 per cent of Americans pay no income tax is “almost correct.”
According to The Tax Policy Centre in 2011 46.4 per cent of Americans paid no federal income tax. But, it is the statement that these people do not “take personal responsibility” for their lives that may have left Romney in the wrong.
Of those who did not pay income tax, some still paid payroll taxes for social security and Medicare; therefore, only 18.1 per cent of households did not pay any income or payroll taxes.
According to The Guardian article titled, “Who are Romney’s 47 % that don’t pay tax,” due to sales tax, state property taxes and state income taxes those 18.1 per cent of people are still paying some tax.
Further numbers from the Tax Policy Center show that of those who paid neither income or payroll taxes 10.3 per cent were elderly, 6.9 per cent had an income of under $20,000, leaving one per cent of “others.”
– With files from The Associated Press
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.