Mitt Romney may have had his biggest slip-up so far in the election after having a fundraiser taped. These fundraisers are almost always closed to the media because you’re much more likely to get the candidates to say what they really think. Both guys running do it. Rarely does any information from those fundraisers make it to the public. Romney focused on government moochers and a lack of personal responsibility. I won’t touch personal responsibility because the link above covers it and more. But I do want to talk about the moochers.
Romney defined moochers (my term not his) as people that live off the government. They could be people benefiting from any number of programs: unemployment, disability, social security, medicare, medicaid, welfare, food stamps, etc. Anything that comes in the form of a government hand out.
And there are certainly moochers among that group. Some people abuse the system. I for one can’t stand to see someone buying healthy food with EBT and then junk with a pile of cash while talking on their iPhone. At the same time someone else has figured out how to collect disability income by faking injuries so they never have to work again. I don’t even like the 99 week unemployment insurance that was offered. Part of Europe’s problem is their generous social safety net.
But are there other kinds of moochers out there? Think about where our tax dollars come from. They come from the people, taxpayers. And how does that money get distributed? Social programs is one thing but the federal budget is a big animal. That budget is not evenly distributed based on how much a state or region contributes to the tax base. So some states might pay less into the system than they’re getting out of it. On a per capita basis, what does that look like? (click the map to make it big enough to read).
- New Mexico
- Mississippi
- Alaska
- Louisiana
- West Virginia
- North Dakota
- Alabama
- South Dakota
- Virginia
- Kentucky
These are the top ten states mooching off the backs of American taxpayers. Based on the 2008 presidential election, eight of the ten are red states.
The 10 largest net contributors of tax dollars were all blue states. It sounds like it’s Republicans that are mooching off of Democrats. But that all depends on how you count mooching. Dare it be said, it sounds like a redistribution of income as well.
Mitt Romney does make some good points though. Americans are too reliant on government to support and stabilize them. Just don’t go tell a blue state like Colorado what Alabama is getting in benefits. That hippie blue state will just demand more because the have a bigger population.
If you want to see who really doesn’t pay taxes check the Wonkblog. You can decide for yourself what a mooch is.
Image: Earl-Wilkerson
 By The Weakonomist |
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