Let’s see, suppose Mitt Romney is correct—people who don’t pay taxes are deadbeats who will vote for Obama no matter what. Who are these people? Well, since most people pay payroll and social security taxes, as well as state sales taxes, he’s probably not talking about them. So it must be the 47% who don’t pay federal income taxes. Lots of other bloggers are currently talking about the demographics of these people—they’re poor, they get child care credits, they’re on social security, that sort of thing. But what about where they live? Is there a pattern here?
Well, the Tax Foundation, which we have approvingly discussed before, has a handy map (shown above). Hey, look at that. Of the top ten states with the highest percentage of non-payers, eight of them are red states.
They all voted for John McCain. Wow, who knew? Well, actually, we did. It should come as no surprise that of the next ten, seven were Red States. And what about those states with the lowest percentage of non-payers—that is, states with the highest percentage of people who actually do pay their federal taxes? Huh, seven of those ten are Blue states. Those seven voted for Obama. And all of the next ten are blue states.
So it turns out that Mitt Romney, like his running mate, knows nothing, and can’t add.
And one of those two states that voted for Obama is Florida, hardly a reliable progressive wonderland.
Rick Scott!