Fighting 47%ers
by digby
Yesterday I wrote about the 47% who don't pay federal income taxes due to the fact that they are able to make so little money (a shameful statistic in the wealthiest country in the world.)I pointed out that this number was mostly made up of single mothers with kids and the elderly poor. I got a note from a reader reminding me of this little factoid as well:
Among the 47% are US military personnel, military civilians, and other civilian agency personnel deployed forward including Iraq and Afghanistan. As you know if one is abroad for a year (actually a little over 11 months), the first $89k or so of income is exempt from income tax.
Are they and their families "whiners" who should "suck it up" too? Normally, I would have said that nobody would think that, but after they booed an active duty soldier at one of their debates, I assume the whole "support the troops" thing is no longer entirely operative with Republicans.
h/t to AS