Romney called a news conference, saying that:

Romney's pre-esisting consitions - such as flip-flopping - are now covered; Insurance companies won't be able to discriminate against him for being a vulture

Romney is grateful to Obama for Obamacare upheld by SCOTUS

This is a Breaking News update by PNN (Pigotry News Network)

We don't have a socialist in the White House, assuming you're being serious. Teddy Roosevelt was more of a socialist than Obama, threatening to nationalize the coal industry unless corporations met workers' safety concerns.

Obama, just like Republicans, cater almost exclusively to Wall Street and millionaires. They are more alike than different.

Other than the symbolism that the First Mormon has been the presidential nominee pigged by a major party for the first time in the country's history, Romney is not going anywhere other than going home crying after November 2012 elections.

Politics is showBiz for ugly people, the winner goes to Washington, the Loser (a.k.a. Willard the Weird) goes home crying.

Obama/Biden 2012

And another thing, how come the banks and Wall Street get all the socialism and the rest of us get decaying free market capitalism?

I want some socialism too Mr. Obama!

President Obama grew up with his maternal grandma, a banking executive who made Obama's early life comfortable.

Obama has been a natural supporter of Wall Street, so far in his first term he has almost exclusively enacted pro-business policies:

1. Healthcare reform, a compromise, did not go far enough, didn't get single-payer, for example, trying to stake the middle ground to get GOP support, but the party of NO played hard to get - not a single GOP vote during its passage.

2. Banking reform - Dodd-Frank - did not go far enough to revive the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which put a wall between commercial and investment banking and had helped stabilize the stock market until its repeal in 1999 - the repeal initiated by GOP contributed to the Great Recession.

Obama is pro-Wall Street because Wall Street opposed the revival of the Glass-Steagall Act. But recent revelation about JP Morgan and Barclays show the need for such reform.

3. Obama renewed Bush tax cut whole-sale.

...continuing from the previous post...

After his re-election, Pres. Obama will finally come back to the center, taking care of Democrats and their core constituents, laying the foundation for his great presidential legacy, as many previous presidents had done in their second term.

So we should all just forget his comments about his plans to redistribute the wealth that he appears to be implementing? His class warfare rhetoric that started the whole 1% vs 99% arguement that was included in his State of the Union address which predated the existance of OWS should just be completely dismissed? His calls to the wealtiest Americans to pay "their fair share" when the bottom 47% pay nothing doesn't sound like Socialism to you? Even when he plans to use the proceeds to fund the expansion of the Federal Government to unprecedented levels further eliminating the rights of individuals to make their own choices? I won't even mention the ACA. No, Obama doesn't sound like a Socialist to me, in fact one might call him right-wing, no?

Romney's Vice President choice leaked by an Obama White House Staff mole: Greta Van Susteren.

Mr. Obama's new Vice President pick leaked by an Obama White House Staff mole: Valerie Bowman Jarrett.

Hey Grail, here is a newsflash for you. Payroll taxes are taxes based on wages. Payroll taxes are paid on the first nickel of wages earned. This is not subject to any deductions or exemptions.So anyone collecting a paycheck is paying taxes, so spare me the tired old lie that 47% do not pay taxes.

Here is another flash for you. A single person with $50K of wages pays income tax at a 25% marginal rate and payroll taxes at a 7.65 rate which almost puts him in the same bracket as a single person earning $350K in passive income. I won't even get into the tax rates that person earning $350K pays on dividends and capital gains.

America, get your head out of your collective ass and demand a write in ballot for Ron Paul.

Dick Cheney has a new change of heart, who knows? You can't kill Dracula....

Rage -

Congressman Ron Paul's economic policies are inflationary and would cripple the US in the world markets. His social policies deny the very concepts of social interdependency, rejects the idea of women's rights in his position to repeal Roe v. Wade, denies the right of workers to organize (funny, I thought freedom of association IS a constitutional right which he claims to support!), and denies equal access to education for all people (home schooling is NOT a replacement for public education). His "free market policy" ignores the real world issues of cartels and will directly inhibit access to the market by new business (funny, I thought the "free market" definition meant equal access . . .). His position to eliminate the EPA completely plus his encouragement of no-regulations for businesses will lead directly to health and life issues as well as directly compromise water and air. (source: www. ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/)

Al -- do you consider that many folks that do indeed have money withheld from their checks receive it back as a refund resulting in no federal income tax liability?

it appears from things i have read that the number with no federal income tax liability has been between 40 - 50% for many years.

Nearly half of American tax filers will pay no federal income taxes this year, according to data released by the Tax Policy Center.

Some 76 million tax filers, or 46.4 percent of the total, will be exempt from federal income tax in 2011.

billybob -- What's disgusting is RICH people not paying taxes at all or RICH people who are legally allowed to enjoy a tax rate of 15% , while the average person with little money is taxed at a rate of 28%.

Romney enjoys a 15% rate. Why is that allowed? Or why do we allow these people to hide their money overseas?

It's unconscionable and outrageous. That's what you should be upset about instead of worrying about poor people.

Oh Billy Bob, just how dump can you tea people be on taxes? The Social Security and medicare taxes you pay in are not a refundable tax. When will you tea people think for yourselves and quit listening to Fox (aka tea people Koch republican propaganda machine) and Limbaugh (liar) lie to you and then post their lies and look totally stupid.

If Obama is a socialist then Romney is a fascist.....plain and simple.

Republicans widened the gap between the 1% and the 99% and now are blaming Obama for their "starve the beast" policies that redistributed the wealth in the first place to the wealthy from the middle class.

What a laugh !

Who cares who Romney picks, its a losing ticket.

Romney has no ideas about how to help the economy or unemployment. He continues with his vague plans with no specifics, and fails to answer questions at press conferences. His political strategy ranks right up there with a middle schooler running for class president.

Hey Al, here's a newsflash for you. The above poster is clearly talking about Federal Income Tax and guess what? 47% of the working population do not pay any, look it up. Who cares about the payroll tax. Those of us who pay Federal Income Taxes pay all of the other taxes and fees as well. The point is some people are not "paying their fair share" and it's not the top 10% of income earners since we carry 70% of the Federal Tax burden.

Here is another flash for you. A single person with $50K of wages pays income tax at a 25% marginal rate and payroll taxes at a 7.65 rate...

And here's another flash for you. The single person with $50K of wages typically pays an effective tax rate of between 15-18% after deductions. Comparing this person with somebody who makes $350K in "passive" income is like comparing apples to oranges. A single person with $350K of wages pays a considerably higher effective tax rate and still pays the payroll tax.

I won't even get into the tax rates that person earning $350K pays on dividends and capital gains.

I assume you're once again talking about "passive" income? Well here's a final news flash for you. A person wealthy enough to create a "passive" income of 350K would have to already be a millionaire. Since statistically, most millionaires are self-made (you can look this up as well), they must have made their money the good old-fasioned way, through hard work. In doing so, they likely paid taxes on their wealth and probably at the highest rates. To incentivize these people into investing their already taxed money (something anyone with a clue would agree is necessary for a healthy ecomomy) the government offers a Capital Gains Tax lower than the ordinary income tax. If ignorant liberals would stop threatening to raise the Cap Gains Tax, maybe people would stop sitting on their money and actually invest it.

One last thing, genius. Next time you choose to criticize another poster, bring a cogent arguement.

The Mormon cultist says Romneycare isn't a tax, but a penalty, while Obamacare isn't a penalty, but a tax. Does this man have a brain?

Funny how some people are railing against poor people not paying federal taxes.

To borrow an excuse from Romney -- It's all legal.

BTW -- Fool's Gold -- I imagine those people not paying federal pay state taxes.

Gotta love people that are wrong. That's Republicans on taxes.

Fact Check on "50% of Americans Pay No Taxes"

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/07/fact-check-pastor-rick-warren-tweets-half-of-america-pays-no-taxes/

"For example, this year, the top 20 percent of earners, or people who earned more than $103,000, will pay about 70 percent of all the federal taxes collected, but this top tier also holds more than half of all the income earned in the United States this year.

Meanwhile the lowest 20 percent of earners will hold less than 4 percent of the country’s income and pay just .2 percent of all federal taxes.

So while it is clear that higher-income Americans pay more taxes, the top tier clearly does not pay all the taxes."

Great math Republicans, so lets have those that don't hold hardly any income generate more of the taxes.

Fascism at its finest.

"When looking only at federal income tax, Warren is correct. Forty-seven percent of people either have such a low income that they are exempt from the federal income tax or they qualify for enough tax credits that they get more back than they pay in."

Eric:

I was talking about FEDERAL INCOME TAX. By the way, this is from the article you linked. Maybe you should have actually read it.

Dont_carry_it_all:

Grail Quest was talking about Federal Income Tax and Al in Visalia Ca was talking about payroll taxes. ( By the way, 13% of income earners pay neither.) As for state taxes (income, sales, license fees etc.), yes these people pay various combinations of these, but you'll find that with respect to state income taxes, many of the same exemptions apply. My point is that those people who still actually pay Federal Income Tax are doing so in addition to all of those other taxes and fees as well.

The percentage of income earners paying no Federal Income Tax has been rising steadily from the '50s when it was about 18% to '07 when it was 38% until now when it's 47%. In response to your post about the poorest Americans not paying taxes, can you really attribute a 30% increase in people not paying taxes just to poverty?

Your moniker sure does fit you Fool's Gold. I and most of the other readers have had to chuckle at your posts.

Fool's Gold -- Here's what deductions cost Uncle Sam in terms of less revenue. Notice Capital gains vs. EIC

Mortgage interest deduction: $99.8 billion

Capital gains: $71.4 billion

Earned income credit: $58.4 billion

Estate tax exclusions: $51.9 billion

Child credit: $51.7 billion

Deduction for charitable contributions: $51.6 billion

Those figures come from a US NEWS Money article

Dont_carry_it_all:

And your point is?

Fool's Gold -- Answer to your question: It is attributed to our tax laws. Many of which were put in place by Republicans. Some of the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes and fees compared to a wealthy person when you combine the state, local, and payroll taxes and add in the fees they are subjected too. 70% of GDP relies on the consumer. When the poor have money left they will spend it. So to that extent it is at least circulating.

I posted the figures so you understand the bigger picture of all deductions and what they cost. You seem to only focus on the poor end of the spectrum.

It's funny to me that Republicans chastise President Obama for the speech he gave about Warren Buffett's secretary paying more in taxes than he did, forgetting that their hero, Ronald Reagan, gave nearly the exact same speech, even speaking about a letter sent to him by a wealthy man complaining that his secretary paid more in taxes than he did. Ronald Reagan said the rich weren't paying their fair share.

So I'm just curious, was Ronald Reagan lying?

One of the things I did was look at all of the income of so called "rich"people, in total! Im not going to do the math for you...but with a small amount of google research you can figure it out. Let have one of you geniuses hit the right number. I want you to take every penny these "rich" people have .....take it all. Then you tell me......how long will that money run the government for? I know what I came up with and 4 of my finance friends hit it within 2 to 3 months. Then you can tell me who the next group of rich people are , that are next in line. Oh yes $250k a year and above, is the figure. Because one of the Liberal femal posters on here Union Baby stated that $250k a year is in her mind very rich!

Dont_carry_it_all:

I don't care if all they pay is one dollar, the poor should not be completely exempted from paying federal taxes when they are allowed to vote for representatives that can dictate what my tax rate is, as well as where my tax dollars are going. You don't see a conflict of interests here?

Also, you liberals always view poverty as if it's some kind of incurable disease, it's not. While there are some poor whose circumstances are beyond their control and are deserving of our help (the physically and mentally disabled for example), there are still others who are where they are today because of the poor choices that they have made in their lives. Your solutions inevitably penalize those who have made the right choices in their lives and reward those who haven't.

Now it's reached the point where living on the government dole has become a life-style choice. I recently saw a comparison between two families of four where one earned a $50K income and the other was on welfare. After taxes and fees etc. the difference in spending power between these two families was only 3 thousand dollars. Does that sound right to you?

No need to respond to this post. It's Sunday which is the only day I have to do my chores and prepare for the week ahead, so I need to go.

@fool...your just another lying GOP stooge, rehashing Faux Noise talking points..

Contrary to the rhetoric from Republicans that half of Americans are not paying income taxes, at the state level the poor are paying more than TWICE as much of their income toward taxes than the super rich. At the same time poverty levels has risen to highs not seen since 1993, with 15.1 percent of Americans officially classified as poor.

But those in the bottom 20 percent pay closer to 12 or 13 percent of their income in state and local taxes on average. The top 1 percent of income earners only pay 7 to 8 percent, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.

While the lowest 20 percent often pay 7 percent of their income in sales and excise taxes each year, the top 1 percent pay less than 1 percent of their income toward sales taxes.

The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans and GOP/Tea Tools who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.

No matter who Romney picks for VP, the left will tear them down. Romney could pic the smartest person in the universe and the left will call him/her stupid. The pick could be with out a mean bone on their body and they will call him/her a war monger.

This is the only way the left can prevail. Distort, distract, and divide.

ROMNEY 2012

@Fool's Gold, I was talking about Federal taxes as well. I read your part, but in no part in my article does the author agree with you that they don't pay taxes.

In short, taxing the poor more does nothing to help the economy. The rich can afford more, and when we get back to them paying 75% they can grumble and maybe I'll think that they need to pay less.

Additionally, how are your other 20 identities on Newsvine.

Additionally, how are your other 20 identities on Newsvine.

Eric:

This is at least the third time I've seen you make this accusation. The only thing that I have in common with the posters that you accuse me of being is that at some point we've all had various pictures of Obama as our avatar. By actually reading our posts, any idiot can see that we all have vastly different posting and writing styles and are all different people. But then, your not just any idiot, are you?

By the way, if you think you have evidence to the contrary, my suggestion is that you take it up with the moderators. If you don't, then STFU.

@Devdoc

Mitt should pick, Dick " the Water-boarder" Cheney.

I heard that Cheney now has a heart, for the first time in his life!! LOL!!

It's funny to me that Republicans chastise President Obama for the speech he gave about Warren Buffett's secretary paying more in taxes than he did, forgetting that their hero, Ronald Reagan, gave nearly the exact same speech, even speaking about a letter sent to him by a wealthy man complaining that his secretary paid more in taxes than he did. Ronald Reagan said the rich weren't paying their fair share.

I couldn't help but notice that none of the Republicans want to touch this one with a 10' pole. Man do they love to invoke the name of Ronald Reagan, but damn do they hate it when you quote his words or cite his policies.

Would you guys like to know why today's GOP will never be anything like RR? He was willing to compromise, today's GOP is unwilling to find middle ground and we all suffer because of it. They are stubborn little children who, if they can't have their way, take their ball and go home. We saw this in the budget negotiations when the Republicans just walked out. We hear it in their rhetoric every day. They've made quite clear that the prosperity of the American people is the least of their concerns, their priority is making President Obama a one term president. Although, it must be said, they're not doing a very good job of it, Obama has a massive lead on the electoral map and Romney would have to win every single swing state to get to 270 electoral votes. Unfortunately for him, however, President Obama leads in all but two of them (VA, OH, CO, IA, MI, WI, NH and now Florida as well.) Romney will need a lot more than NC & MO (the two swing states in which he leads) to make it happen and it looks to be impossible. Romney has no viable path to 270 and thus, is doomed to obscurity.

obama-azz -- Wow, 'cuz the US hasn't been a hybrid of capitalism and socialism all along? And who cares if we put a Plutocrat like Romney in the WH, and our nation becomes a corporatist theocratic oligarchy, or worse fascist, because those kind of governmental systems are so much better. Riiiight.

marlen101917 -- Ain't that the truth? Romney/GOP = Privatize profits and socialize debt. Look at JP Morgan and how their last reported 3 billion loss could reach 9 billion. Look at the Barclays scandal. These Banksters have been lining their pockets for a long time at the expense of the economy and everyone else. Enough! Why these Too Big to Fail scandals and HUGE rip-offs are getting more press, I guess it's too complicated for feeble minds?

Back to the topic, If Romney selects Portman it will be because there is no one else. Usually the candidate gets a "bump" after the VP pick. We'll see if that happens this cycle.

Chris Christie's career in politics is done. And Joe Walsh -- Have you ever seen so many jackarses in your life?

Fool's Gold

You are what is wrong with America and its thinking! Do you live in Texas? I see that the republican platform there now calls to stop teaching "Critical Thinking' after the fall elections. What a sick puppy of a party. Just brainwash them all or just force them to watch FOX 24-7.

Two-Face Tea Banger -- Great point about taxes. Looking at Romney's record as governor (all those fees, user taxes, etc.) we see what is called Regressive Taxation, which hurts everyone except the rich, and hurts the poor the most. In fact, Romney's 59-point plan can be boiled down to two points: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Eric-913730

In short, taxing the poor more does nothing to help the economy.

Agreed. The "trickle-down" lie has long since been debunked. There are maybe two economists out there who might still believe in this crap. As President Obama says, we need a bottom up approach. When the middle/working class does well, everyone does better including businesses and the rich.

Why anyone still believes in voodoo economics is mind-bending.

@clwyd

GOP/ Tea Trash Texans honestly think that science is a corrupt field and billionaires like the Koch brothers have all the right answers....LOL!!!

The problem with the GOP in addition to its leadership is the extreme right-wing followers it has attracted. GOP has become synonymous with intolerance, stupidity and bigotry.

"No matter who Romney picks for VP, the left will tear them down."

What a totally stupid statement!! Guess what brain child -- over the last 4 years no matter what President Obama has said, thought, done or not done -- the right tears him down. Ever listen to Fox, Limbaugh the junkie or the rest of the right wing noise machine --- President Obama gets Bin Laden --- they whine about it. He frees the captain of a @!$%# captured by pirates - they whine about it. Gasoline goes down -- they whine about it. The crime rate drops -- they whine about it. The fact is the right has been on a 4 year campaign of whining, screaming, crying, bitching and out right lying.

"This is the only way the left can prevail. This is the only way the left can prevail. Distort, distract, and divide.."

You right wing people have a real talent. Every time you attempt to describe somebody even marginally left of center, you end up describing yourselves. Have you ever listened to Rush the junkie, or Hannity or Fox or the resat of the right wing noise machine ---- distort, distract, and divide, along with lying is what they do.

Those figures come from a US NEWS Money article

Dont_carry_it_all:

If you read this, can you provide a link to this article? The problem I have with your figures is that you identify the Capital Gains Tax as a deduction. The Capital Gains Tax is a tax rate that applies to investment income under very specific circumstances. As a tax rate it doesn't cost the government anything since any percentage of the income beyond it was money that they never were going to have. If you are referring to the "oppurtunity cost" of not charging a higher rate, then I want to see the numbers that the article uses in it's calculations. I also want to point out that an "oppurtunity cost" arguement could be applied to tax rates across the board, including yours.

You seem to only focus on the poor end of the spectrum.

Wrong. I have no problem paying my own taxes. What I have a problem with is paying other people's taxes as well as supporting the dead-beats of society who think that the money I've earned is somehow theirs.

It's funny to me that Republicans chastise President Obama for the speech he gave about Warren Buffett's secretary paying more in taxes than he did...

VirginiaDemocrat78:

You mean the secretary who Buffet claims pays a marginal tax rate of 35%? If she does, you realize she would have to have an income north of $380K which would qualify her as a legitimate 1%er ? Oh yeah, that secretary. By the way, people in her income bracket on average only pay an effective rate of about 25-28%.

@fool...your just another lying GOP stooge, rehashing Faux Noise talking points...

Two-Face Tea Banger:

Dude, you really need some new material. You invariably start all of your posts with this same line.

The rich can afford more, and when we get back to them paying 75% they can grumble and maybe I'll think that they need to pay less.

Eric:

Who are you, the god of taxes? Oh, that's right, you liberals think that everybody else's money is your money. And hey, it's all good as long as your taxes don't go up, right? *wink wink*

You are what is wrong with America and its thinking

clwyd:

Why, because I'm not interested in subsidizing the lifestyle of deadbeats?

As President Obama says, we need a bottom up approach.

And of course his experience as a community organizer makes his economic acumen beyond reproach? If the last four years are an example of the "bottom up approach", I'll pass. C'mon Patriot, you can do better than this, I've seen it.

Fool's Gold -- I'll agree to taxing the poor one dollar. In fairness though the 1500 millionaires that didn't pay any federal taxes should have to have a clawback rate of 25%. They can afford it.

In 2000 32.6 million people paid no federal tax. In 2008 that figured had jumped to 51.6 million due to the tax breaks Bush and company, i.e. all Republicans, put in place. An increase of almost 60% thanks to your party.

Quit blaming Obama for Republican policies.

You said:

Your solutions inevitably penalize those who have made the right choices in their lives and reward those who haven't.

Again, that would be what Republicans do. They would like to tax those of us with employer provided health insurance to pay for all the freeloaders that refuse to get insurance. Furthermore, in 1986, under Reagan, Congress instituted EMTALA which they left unfunded so the costs of those using the emergency room for care but unable to pay have been shifted to those that pay cash or have insurance, adding $1000 to a insurance policy.

Will provide link in a bit. BRB

A supposed "all American" named "Fool" is speaking up for the Tea Trash party by throwing out insults and going tit-for-tat with everybody like a baby.... while getting fat on pudding and watching TV... probably some stupid reality TV program or Faux News while he shovels in 10 million calories...

Thats the problem with Tea Trash Americans, they troll the internet cause they can't get off their fat axx's, and leave their couches and look around to see whats really going on in this country.

Hahahahaa!!! Thumbs up to Two Face!

Fool = lazy Tea Tool

Fool,

You failed to answer the question. Was Ronald Reagan lying?

Fool's Gold

Link you requested, plus an explanation of who and why people don't pay federal tax.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/05/02/3-inconvenient-truths-about-taxes

Half Of Americans Don’t Pay Any Taxes

Published 1, July 29, 2011 Congress , Politics 79 Comments

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

It’s a common claim from the Right, but it’s not true. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), in a Senate floor speech, claimed “Fifty-one percent — that is, a majority of American households — paid no income tax in 2009. Zero. Zip. Nada.” At least he used the often omitted “income” adjective. However, those individuals still pay payroll taxes, like Social Security and Medicare, sales taxes, and often property taxes.

When Republican Senators give speeches complaining about someone not paying enough tax, you can be sure of two things: one, they’re not talking about corporations and two, they’re not talking about the wealthy. If you’re not a member of either of those two groups, hold onto your wallet. The Republican hatred of increasing taxes doesn’t apply to everyone’s taxes, just those who can afford to them get re-elected.

A report from the Tax Policy Center examines the facts. Here’s an overview:

• 23% pay nothing because they’re poor. For example, a couple with two children earning less than $26,400 will pay no federal income tax this year because their $11,600 standard deduction and four exemptions of $3,700 each reduce their taxable income to zero.
• 10% are elderly and pay nothing because their Social Security benefits are exempt from federal income taxes.
• 7% pay nothing thanks to provisions in the tax code designed to benefit low-income families: the earned income tax credit, the child credit, and the childcare credit account.

The other 6% benefit from tax-exempt interest, itemized deductions, education credits, other credits; and reduced rates on capital gains and dividends.

That’s whom the Republicans want to tax: poor families and the elderly, those least able to afford the tax increases. The shocking aspect of these facts is the existence of such a huge number of people that are so poor, they balloon the percentage up to 46%.

H/T: Kevin Drum, Roberton Williams, Donald Marron

http://jonathanturley.org/2011/07/29/half-of-americans-dont-pay-any-taxes/

You failed to answer the question. Was Ronald Reagan lying?

No, but if you know the context that he made that speech in, then you kind of are. Reagan was arguing for the closure of tax loopholes to lower tax rates for everyone which would lead to a net reduction in the tax burden, putting the secretary's tax back in alignment with that of her wealthy boss. By contrast, Obama only wants to increase the tax burden on the wealthy to put things back into alignment thereby continuing the revenue stream from the current higher marginal rates. He argues this by comparing capital gains (investment income) to a salary. By the way, in case you missed it, Buffet says that his secretary pays a 35.8% effective rate which is by all accounts, an impossibility. Furthermore, in addition to raising the taxes on capital gains, the Buffet Rule would also raise taxes on those people paying the highest marginal rate which would include Buffet's secretary.

Thanks for the link.

Fool

If you don't, then STFU.

You are a disgusting excuse for a human being. You are worth exactly what your screen name implies. You seem to have a special hatred for poor people. You imply that they don't deserve to vote because they don't pay taxes. People like you are the problem, not the answer.

You can tell me to STFU all you want. You're just a bully and people like you are a dime a dozen.

You seem to have a special hatred for poor people.

Dennis:

You are wrong. I don't hate people who are legitimately poor, although I have a strong dislike for those who are poor only because they choose to do nothing about it. I also don't care much for those who would encourage these people to continue being poor by giving them just enough to maintain the status quo. You see, unlike most liberals, I don't believe that being poor is an immutable state. I think that giving these people "just enough" only robs them of any incentive that they may have to change their situations. And I say "robs" because I think we are ultimately doing them a disservice.

As for the remainder of your comment, it is clear that I offend your sensibilities and for that, you have my sincerest apologies. My advice? Click on my screen name and use the "ignore" feature. That should remedy the problem.

Dont_carry_it_all:

This will be my last post to you on this thread, which should come as some relief I guess. I only wanted to let you know that I reviewed the data from your article and in all honesty, I didn't see anything new. The numbers that the "blogger" used to show who was paying taxes and who wasn't haven't changed from those I've seen previously. While there is no question that this is how many people are paying no taxes and how the IRS is reporting it, it does nothing to address the question of the legitimacy of these claims. Remember, many of the exemptions that are permitting all of these folks to avoid federal taxes did not exist until recently and I don't really care which party enacted them.

False, Fool's Gold. Almost all of it is attributed to the Bush and Republican tax cuts.

Again, in 2000 32.6 million people paid no federal tax. In 2008 that figured had jumped to 51.6 million due to the tax breaks Bush and company, i.e. all Republicans, put in place. An increase of almost 60%.

Perhaps you should be more concerned with the loophole Romney and hedge fund managers enjoy. The carried interest loophole. Their income is taxed at 15% because of this special loophole. That is costing the Treasury billions each year. If they would pay the normal rate all other people must, like doctors, dentists, etc. then other important programs could be funded. They don't need the money and shouldn't get special treatment.