George W. Bush Deputy Secretary of State: Mr. Romney has no idea how government works.

Romney’s 47% made up largely of elderly and low-wage workers
By Richard Rubin, Updated: Tuesday, September 18, 5:00 PM


Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Elderly Americans and low-wage workers make up the bulk of those who don’t pay income taxes, a group that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said are “dependent on government” and see themselves as “victims.”

For 2011, 46 percent of households didn’t pay federal income taxes. About half of those didn’t pay because of standard deductions and personal exemptions designed to exclude subsistence levels of income from taxation.

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Romney described non-payers as being dependent on government and feeling entitled to government-provided health care, housing and food assistance.

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“Mr. Romney doesn’t know what this country looks like, and he has no idea how government works,” Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of state in the administration of George W. Bush and a former top Defense Department official, said in an interview today. “The veterans who serve 20 years or more in the service, they get benefits -- that’s government money.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/romneys-47percent-paying-no-taxes-combines-elderly-with-poor-workers/2012/09/18/7845ede0-01b6-11e2-bbf0-e33b4ee2f0e8_story.html