Give and Take

Well the sequestration is all the talk these days on the news.  I’m presently surrounded by federal workers who are very concerned about the mandatory furloughs of one day per week.  It is very interesting that the cuts only amount to 2.5% of the budget however losing one day of pay per week is a 20% pay cut to federal employees.   The federal employees that I’m talking about don’t save very much, if any.  In other words, they will be 20% short of paying their bills, and that 20% will not be going back into the economy.   

I saw a quote on Facebook from John F. Kennedy -  “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.  Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past.  Let us accept our own responsibility for the future”.   

Mitt Romney took the opportunity of the sequestration to step back out onto the national stage.   He spoke about a lot of things, which resulted in many news stories about the 47% that Gov Romney referenced during the election.   In the context of the GOP needing to reconsider their outreach to the minorities that they did not win in the election, Gov Romney insisted that he cared very much about 100% of the people.   

I believe him.  I do.  I don’t dislike Mitt Romney.  In his life he seems to express a lot of what I want to see in person.   He seems committed to his wife, his family and his faith.  And he is generous in his giving – more generous by percentage then what most of us are anyway.   

As I see it, the problem though with Gov Romney, and most on the ultra-conservative side of the GOP is not that they do not care about the people, it seems they don’t care very much for the people – at least 47% of them.   They don’t like them.  Okay, maybe it’s not that personal, after all,  they really couldn’t know most of them.   But, I do think it’s fair to say that they don’t like who they perceive them to be.  To quote Gov Romney:  

“All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. … These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.” 

That’s why the GOP will have such a hard time rebuilding its party.  Tweaking their platform to woo minority groups won’t help.  Why? Because they really don’t like them.  They see the 47% as takers.  They see themselves as being taken from, or as givers.   They believe they’ve earned all they have, while the 47% have just been given everything.   It really sad, because the 47% that they dislike are not really who they think they are.   Are the 47% takers, while the 53% (tax payers) givers?   No – just because you have more than others doesn’t make you a giver – in fact, it may be that you are a taker – and that’s why you have more. 

Consider the facts - The vast majority of households that don’t pay federal income taxes are either elderly or paying payroll taxes. As you can see below, 60 percent of those who don’t pay income tax are still working (the working poor) and paying taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Their tax liability is just too low to qualify for the income tax. Another 22 percent of non-payers are retirees.

                        

Only about 7.9 percent of households are not paying any federal taxes at all. That’s usually because they’re either unemployed or on disability (including military veterans) or students or are very poor. 

And then, let’s look at the 53% who are paying tax:   

An average family that makes $50,000 per year, is married and has one child contributes through their federal income taxes approximately $29.84 toward food assistance (this includes Food Stamps and the School lunch programs) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (what used to be called welfare).   The family that makes $80,000 per year that is married with 2 children contributes approximately $191.96 to the same programs.    

In terms of giving, via your federal tax dollars, that it!  That is the percent of your federal tax dollars that go to those most in need, $29.84  to $191.96 – per year!  That is what you as an U.S. citizen pays so that we do not become one of the 3rd world countries where people frequently starve to death on our streets.  

 

On the other hand, the rest of the 47% often are your Police, Fire Fighters, Military Service members, Social Service Workers, Teachers and others who made a decision to serve, give of themselves, knowing full well that they would never make a lot of money.   

I guess I knew it, but it was just brought to light a couple of weeks ago, that it is a common thinking that those who serve do so because they are not competent enough, or not smart enough, or not willing to work hard enough, to go into the private sector and make a lot of money.   In the same fundraiser that included the 47% remark, one of the audience members ask this question of Gov. Romney:   

“My question to you is, Why don't you stick up for yourself? To me, you should be so proud of your wealth. That's what we all aspire to be—we kill ourselves, we don't work a nine to five. We're away from our families five days a week. I'm away from my four girls five days a week and my wife. Why not stick up for yourself and say, "Why is it bad to be, to aspire to be wealthy and successful? You know, why is it bad to kill yourself?”    

There is much about this question that doesn’t sit well with me.  Mostly, it is filled with assumptions.  There is an assumption that wealth and success come with hard work and long hours.  Well, 2 FULL-TIME, minimum wage jobs I think would classify as long hours and hard work, and it would only yield $31,200 per year.  Second, I think that any Soldier could compare her sacrifice to the sacrifice of the wealthy and otherwise financially successful.  Being away from your family for a year at a time, working 12-16 hr shifts, 6 -7 days per week, and then still being on duty when you’re not on shift, I think qualifies as hard work, long hours and sacrifice.  And to those who think that Soldiers simply are only Soldiers because they couldn’t otherwise be successful, well… all I can say is you’ve either never really got to know a Soldier, or you have no interest in considering another point of view.   I just took a Company of Soldiers on deployment, many of whom are very “successful” in their private sector jobs, many with 4 year  degrees, many who left college in the middle of studies, many who were leaving pregnant spouses home, and all of which could have said “no” when they were called.   

And then there are policeman, fireman, teachers and nurses who knew that is what they wanted to do from very early on in their lives.   They saw these hero’s do their job when they were growing up, recognized the impact that it had on the lives of others and knew that that is what defined success for them.  But many of these professions, especially early on, fall into the 47% category. 

But then there is another category of those who don’t pay taxes. It's not just low-income people who get out of paying income taxes. About 1 percent of the top 1 percent of income earners, those making about $533,000 or more, did not pay income taxes. That's roughly 13,000 tax filers. And 4,000 millionaires are also escaping that burden,according to a Tax Policy Center analysis.

 

Tweaking the message, or how it is relayed, is not going to change many minds.  It is just too clear that the ultra-conservatives just don’t like those who are not driven by wealth.  They see those who serve, whether it is serving your coffee, teaching your children, saving your life or protecting your freedoms, as “takers”.  It’s amazing.  How upside down is that?