President Romney

[MOTO13]

The dumbest thing about this 47% thing is that the right is using "income tax" as though it means the same thing as "tax". Newsflash: it doesn't. Of the 47% of Americans who paid no income tax last year, more than half (28% of all taxpayers) have jobs and pay payroll taxes. (As for the rest, 10% are elderly, and 7% earn less than $20,000 a year.) So really, it's 9% that simply "don't pay taxes", unless you want to attack the elderly.

I also find it ironic how people on the right bitch about people who don't pay taxes, while simultaneously bitching about taxes existing in the first place. Personally, I pay my taxes and don't mind doing so, considering all the things we all use that taxes pay for.

Payroll taxes can't run a country. First off, the fica and medicare paid by peoples wages are basically savings accounts (trusts) set up to pay bills for you in old age or incapacity. So, that money is already earmarked and spent theoretically. Secondly, many people get back a large chunk of their fed and state payroll taxes through refunds etc... at years end. Many get back 100% because of certain credits.

[Static_Martyr]

The dumbest thing about this 47% thing is that the right is using "income tax" as though it means the same thing as "tax". Newsflash: it doesn't. Of the 47% of Americans who paid no income tax last year, more than half (28% of all taxpayers) have jobs and pay payroll taxes. (As for the rest, 10% are elderly, and 7% earn less than $20,000 a year.) So really, it's 9% that simply "don't pay taxes", unless you want to attack the elderly.

Don't forget sales and transaction taxes.

[Godxilla]

I just what to take some time here to say that taxes suck, I'm not looking forward to paying them, and therefore we ought to reduce the deficit. Revolutionary, I know.

[Little_Miss_1565]

Taxes definitely suck. However, not having roads or police or a fire department or public schools etc etc etc sucks a great deal more.

[Static_Martyr]

Tax Protestors remind me of teenage brats who complain because, now that they are finally of age to hold a decent job, their parents expect them to start paying for the things that they've taken for granted their whole lives (like cell phone bills, gas, etc.). They're happy to complain about paying for them, but they will happily take whatever is offered to them freely. Likewise, tax protestors love to complain about how "taxes are too high" (really? less than 10% of most working-class people's income goes towards taxes, most churchgoers pay more in tithes), but they're more than happy to call the police when their cars are stolen, or call the fire department when their houses are on fire, or drive on public roads for free. It's almost like they don't even see the connection. Either they are too stupid to see that an extra $20 a paycheck would not possibly offset the new financial burden of having to pay for your own emergency response, police protection, and road tolls (to name a few), or they just don't care and are so greedy that an extra $20 for them, now, is better, just because it keeps someone else from being able to make ends meet using government-funded money. In which case, they're just assholes.

So really, tax protestors are the real mooches and "gimmes," when you think about it. Which is funny, because they're always the ones you hear whining and complaining about so-called "welfare bums" and other such "mooches."

[Llamas]

6:30 a.m. You are awakened by your clock radio. You know it is actually 6:30 because the National Institute of Standards and Technology keeps the official time. And you can listen to your favorite radio station only because the Federal Communications Commission brings organization and coherence to our vast telecommunications system. It ensures, for example, that radio stations do not overlap and that stations signals are not interfered with by the numerous other devices – cell phones, satellite television, wireless computers, etc. – whose signals crowd our nation’s airwaves.

6:35 a.m. Like 17 million other Americans, you have asthma. But as you get out of bed you notice that you are breathing freely this morning. This is thanks in part to government clean air laws that reduce the air pollution that would otherwise greatly worsen your condition.

6:38 a.m. You go into the kitchen for breakfast. You pour some water into your coffeemaker. You simply take for granted that this water is safe to drink. But in fact you count on your city water department to constantly monitor the quality of your water and to immediately take measures to correct any potential problems with this vital resource.

6:39 a.m. You flip the switch on the coffee maker. There is no short in the outlet or in the electrical line and there is no resulting fire in your house. Why? Because when your house was being built, the electrical system had to be inspected to make sure it was properly installed – a service provided by your local government. And it was installed by an electrician who was licensed by your state government to ensure his competence and your safety.

6:45 a.m. You sit down to breakfast with your family. You are having eggs – a food that brings with it the possibility of salmonella poisoning, a serious food-borne illness affecting tens of thousands of Americans every year. But the chance of you getting sick from these eggs has now been greatly reduced by a recently passed series of strict federal rules that apply to egg producers.

7:00 a.m. You go into your newly renovated bathroom – one of a number of amenities that you enjoy in your house. But the fact that you can legally own your own house is something made possible by government. Think about this: “ownership” and “private property” are not things that exist in nature. These are legal constructs: things created by laws that are passed and enforced by government. You couldn’t even buy your home without a system of commercial laws concerning contracts and a government that ensures that sales contracts are enforced. So the fact that you live in your own home is, in part, a benefit of government and the rule of law.

7:01 a.m. Government also helps you own your house in more than the legal sense. On a more practical level, the federal government actually gives you money every year to help pay for your house. It’s called a mortgage interest tax deduction and it is one of the larger benefit programs run by the federal government – amounting to over $60 billion dollars a year. You can also deduct any real estate taxes you pay. These largely overlooked subsidy programs have enabled millions of people to buy their first home or to move up to a larger home than they could afford otherwise.

7:02 a.m. Back in the bathroom. You use the toilet and flush it. Your local government then takes care of transporting this waste, treating it, and disposing of it in an environmentally responsible manner – all without a second thought by you.

7:20 a.m. As you are getting dressed, a glance outside the window shows some ominous clouds. You check the weather on your TV. All these weather forecasts are made possible by information gathered and analyzed by the National Weather Service, a government agency. Every day, on your behalf, it takes in 190,000 weather observations from surface stations, 2,700 from ships, 115,000 from aircraft, 18,000 for buoys, 250,000 from balloons, and 140 million from satellites – all just to help you plan what to wear and make sure you don’t get stuck in a snow storm. And oh yes, this agency may save your life with its hurricane and tornado warnings.

7:30 a.m. Before you leave home, you take your pills to control your high blood pressure. But how do you know that this medicine is safe or effective? Without the testing required by the Food and Drug Administration, you wouldn’t. And without the vigilance of the FDA, you could easily fall victim to unscrupulous marketers of unsafe and worthless medicines.

7:45 a.m. You put a couple of letters in your mailbox. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, a government employee will come to your house, pick up the letters, and have them delivered in a few days to someone on the other side of the country. A pretty good deal.

7:50 a.m. You and your child walk across the lawn to your car and arrive without getting dog poop on your shoes. A small but welcome achievement that is made possible now by a local law that requires people to clean up after their pets. Also, the reason your neighborhood is not plagued by stray cats and dogs is that your local Animal Control officer is on the job dealing with this constant problem.

[KickHimWhenHe'sDown]

Yay for taxes!

[MOTO13]

Tax protesters are generally not moochers. They possibly have a legitimate concern regarding how their money is being spent. Incase some of you fucking geniuses haven't figured it out yet, we do not have a tax problem, we have a SPENDING problem.

As far as welfare moochers...yes these scum do exist. These worthless fucks who take and do not contribute. There is in this country systemic, generational, won't get off their ass, gimme what somebody else has cause I'm too fucking lazy to do it myself mentality, that is killing this country. Obama wants redistribution of wealth...that's real easy to do...just be better, smarter, faster than the next guy. Other than that, you're fucked. There are people who will never pay one dime in income tax in their entire life and yet still have a decent life because of the work of others. Personally, they can go straight to the shitter.

[Llamas]

Lolololo Romney's daddy moved to the US from Mexico and was on welfare before he achieved success. WHAT A MOOCH! ALSO, IMMIGRANTS ARE PIECES OF SHIT!

[Static_Martyr]

Tax protesters are generally not moochers.

Actually, they are. They're also generally uneducated buffoons with no understanding of civics or American government. Taxes are in the constitution, and the means by which Congress can vote on, pass, and enforce the collection of them are also in there. Which is all the funnier because tax protesters tend to be the types who claim to be "pro-constitution" and deride others for not being "constitutionalists."

Incase some of you fucking geniuses haven't figured it out yet, we do not have a tax problem, we have a SPENDING problem.

The geniuses have already figured it out: tax cuts and wars/defense spending account for nearly 50% of the public debt, projected forward until 2019. Republican parrots will tell you that SS and Medicare/Medicaid are "bankrupt" or "failed programs," but the truth is that these are some of the *most successful,* most efficiently-run social programs in the history of the United States. The reason they are at the risk of failure is because Congress has been double-dipping into the Medicare and Medicaid and SS budget to pay for....that's right, these tax cuts we can't afford.

Grover Norquist and the likes are fond of saying that they want to put the government down to the size where it can "fit in a bathtub," but they are so rarely able to mention specific programs that we could cut spending on, that would actually reduce the national debt. You sincerely believe that "welfare fraud" accounts for any significant percentage of the national debt? The debt is measured in trillions of dollars. Welfare fraud is measured in thousands, or millions at the absolute worst (which is extremely rare). They want to cut a couple hundred thousand here and a couple million there, when this is less than a percent of the national debt....when they could be raising taxes *slightly* on millionaires and billionaires (so slightly that they wouldn't even feel it, less than a fraction of a percent of their earnings), and paying off HUGE chunks of the debt.

PS Saw this earlier today. So true, it hurts:

"The biggest problem with the denizens of Bullshit Mountain, is they act like their shit don't stink. If they have success, they built it. If they failed, the government ruined it for 'em. If they get a break, they deserve it. If you get a break, it's a handout and an entitlement. It's a baffling, willfully blind cognitive dissonance best summed up by their head coach, in what is perhaps my favorite soundbyte of all time." --Jon Stewart

The soundbyte:

"I've been on food stamps and welfare, did anybody help me out? No." --Craig T. Nelson, actor