We, the parasites

There's one entitlement Mitt Romney isn't opposed to: The ability to become richer at the expense of low- and middle-income Americans.

My husband and I, recently retired, are among the people that Mitt Romney described with such disdain in the fundraiser video revealed Monday. We are dependent on federal and state entitlements.

Romney aimed his scorn at the "47% [of Americans] who pay no federal income taxes" and "feel entitled to healthcare," among other things.

Our household does not pay zero taxes, but our federal income taxes are a fraction of what we paid as full-time workers. Our Social Security income is untaxed. The substantial value of our Medicare is not subject to taxes. Both of us were helped over rough spots throughout our lives by federal entitlements. Without them, we would not be enjoying a middle-class retirement in our own home, and we are grateful to our country.

As recent retirees, my husband and I depend on Medicare because without it, comparable individual coverage from, say, Blue Cross would at our age cost more than $15,000 a year each. We also depend on the federal mortgage deduction and could not own the house we live in without a state benefit that allowed us to carry our low property tax rate to our current retirement home.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0919-dugan-romney-entitlements-income-tax-20120919,0,4883471.story