"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the 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. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Politicians can get carried away during the heat of a campaign and stretch the truth, particularly when tailoring their remarks to a specific audience. In this case, Governor Romney was speaking to a well-off group of voters and drew some conclusions that were just plain wrong. Let's break down what he said into two main categories and get to the truth:

Are the People Governor Romney Described Really Deadbeats?

The Governor said, "These are people {the 47%} who pay no income tax….{they} are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled….I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

According to the Tax Policy Center, 46.4% of American households in 2011 paid no federal income taxes. The implication of the Governor's comments (and some far right commentators did more than just imply this) was that these people are sitting around doing nothing, just sucking up government resources. In fact, over 60% of that 47% actually were working during 2011. Based on their family size, though, they did not earn enough income to have to pay federal income taxes. They did, however, pay federal payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) and virtually all of them also would have paid some combination of state/local income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, and property taxes.

Another 22% of the people who paid no federal income taxes were retirees who relied on their Social Security benefits and pensions/savings for income. As with the over 60% who were working, their total income was not enough to have to pay federal income taxes, but they too would have paid some combination of state/local income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, and property taxes. Some pundits on the right may consider these 22% to be dependent on the government, but that would not be true. Almost all of these people contributed to Social Security during their working years and Social Security retirement benefits are insurance agreements, not hand-outs.

8.5% of people were unemployed as of December, 2011, and while the Tax Policy Center did not identify how many of these were part of the 46.4%, it would be fair to assume that a good number of them also fell into this category. The falling unemployment rate is one reason why it is expected that the number of people not paying federal income taxes will fall to under 40% by the end of the decade. We'll still have many retirees and many people earning too little to have to pay federal income taxes, but that number as a percentage of total households will be falling. And they still won't appreciate the Governor thinking they aren't taking personal responsibility and caring for their own lives.

Will This 47% Automatically Vote for President Obama?

The Governor said, "…{these} 47%...will vote for the President no matter what."

For starters, I can reference my own in-laws who are dependent on Social Security, paid no federal income tax in 2011, and voted for Governor Romney in 2012. Many of their friends fall in this same category (unfortunately). Among the broader population, polling among voters who earned less than $30,000 a year consistently showed large percentages of this group voting for Governor Romney. A majority of retirees also voted for Governor Romney.

We hope that these statements from the Governor were just an example of his getting carried away a bit in the midst of the campaign while trying to curry favor with some big dollar, anti-government donors. If the Governor actually believes this, though, and consequently wrote off 47% of the population as being dependent on the government and not taking personal responsibility for their own lives, he did his party a disservice and proved himself too ill-informed to be President.

return to 'Right Wing Myth-Busting'

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