The 47 percent

Governor Romney is correct — 47 percent of Americans don’t pay federal income taxes — so let’s look at two individuals in the 47 percent.  

First is my father who at various times was a chicken farmer, a school teacher, and a grocery store owner. Voted Republican. Never had a great deal of money, but I don’t ever recall being deprived. He retired at age 70 and until he died at age 85, paid no taxes because he didn’t have enough investment earnings.    

Next, let’s look at Bob who started school at Flathead Valley Community College in 2011, married his high school sweetheart Teresa, who also attends FVCC. They both work part-time and earned $18,000 in 2011. Guess what, they don’t pay any federal income taxes because the standard deduction and the personal exemptions that every married couple filing a joint income tax return gets was $19,000 in 2011.  

Maybe this tax system actually works!

So lets tie this together to what the Governor said. Both of these individuals are indeed in the Governor’s 47 percent. I have heard many say that the Governor is not relating to voters. Is it possible that the reason is he simply doesn’t understand them? Or, perhaps we give him a hall pass as the 47 percent remarks were made to a room full of conservatives, and he was simply telling them what they wanted to hear. In any case, I will probably vote for the Governor, but his comments did give me pause to think.

— Alan Stinson