Title: Non-taxpayers
Published: Ventura County Reporter
Date: Sept. 27, 2012
About this cartoon: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney caused a furor with his remarks, not intended for public distribution, that 47 percent of Americans paid no taxes (which is actually correct), and were essentially deadbeats dependent on the public dole, feeling entitled to government supporting them, and loving being unproductive. He failed to distinguish that that group includes those making poverty wages (including many laid off in this recession), students, retirees (including a large population dependent on the Medicare and Social Security they earned during their working years) and the disabled. Some of the very rich are able to avoid paying taxes as well, but Romney presumably did not intend to include them in his derision.