In the leaked video that has caused serious turmoil for the Mitt Romney campaign this week, the Republican presidential nominee said 47 percent of people pay no income tax and therefore will vote for President Barack Obama because they are "dependent on government" and view themselves as "victims."

"And so my job is not to worry about those people -- I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives," Romney said at a May fundraiser.

Romney's comment about 47 percent of people not paying income taxes is nearly on the mark, but misleading -- 46 percent of Americans did not pay income taxes in 2011, according to the Tax Policy Center, but many of them paid payroll taxes, state and local taxes, property taxes or sales taxes.

What Romney -- and plenty of other Republicans including Gov. Rick Perry (R) and vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) -- neglect in their warnings about almost half of all Americans not paying income tax is that Republican presidents have championed efforts to take large numbers of people off tax rolls.

As Heritage Foundation data indicates, the number of Americans not paying income taxes rose sharply after President Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax reform and after President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. President Bill Clinton expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit in 1993 and 1997, which also led to decreases in tax liability. The number of people not paying income taxes sharply increased again as a result of the economic recession associated income declines.

Reducing the income tax liability for poor people has been considered a bipartisan reform -- Democrats like it because it is an antipoverty program, and Republicans like the tax cuts.

But the tide shifted in the early 2000s, as The New York Times notes. A 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial called those who didn't pay income tax "lucky duckies." In 2011, conservative blogger Erick Erickson countered the Occupy Wall Street meme of "We are the 99 percent" with "we are the 53 percent." The complaints were a frequent feature of the GOP primaries, with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) pleading to make people pay "two Happy Meals'" worth of income taxes.

Ezra Klein of the Washington Post quipped, "So whenever you hear that half of Americans don’t pay federal income taxes, remember: Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush helped build that."

Video produced by Hunter Stuart.

Related on HuffPost:

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  • Scott Brown

    "That's not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in. Too many people today who want to work are being forced into public assistance for lack of jobs," Scott said in an email to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/250157-sen-scott-brown-denounces-romney-comments" target="_hplink">The Hill</a>.

  • Paul Ryan

    "He was obviously inarticulate in making this point," Ryan <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/paul-ryan-mitt-romney-video_n_1895403.html" target="_hplink">said</a> during an interview with a Nevada television station.

  • Rush Limbaugh

    "This could be the opportunity for Romney, and for that campaign, to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism, start explaining liberty to people and what it means," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/rush-limbaugh-mitt-romney_n_1893882.html" target="_hplink">Limbaugh said</a> Tuesday. "And explain that they don't need to be in that 47 percent. There's no reason for them, for everybody to be -- essentially having given up on their future in this country. There's no reason for it. This is, to me, such an opportunity to espouse conservatism."

  • Allen West

    "Mitt Romney probably could have better explained himself. I think he was a little clumsy in doing this," <a href="http://thehill.com/video/house/249975-rep-allen-west-romney-a-little-clumsy-with-47-percent-comment" target="_hplink">West said</a> on Fox News.

  • David Brooks

    "Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. I'd put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America today, Romney's comment is a country-club fantasy. It's what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney," <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?ref=davidbrooks" target="_hplink">Brooks wrote</a>. "He's running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?"

  • Bill Kristol

    "It remains important for the country that Romney wins in November (unless he chooses to step down and we get the Ryan-Rubio ticket we deserve!). But that shouldn't blind us to the fact that Romney's comments, like those of Obama four years ago, are stupid and arrogant," <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/note-romney-s-arrogant-and-stupid-remarks_652548.html" target="_hplink">Kristol wrote</a>.

  • Dana Loesch

  • Donald Trump

    "He has to not apologize, because we've seen enough apologizing already, and he cannot apologize," <a href="http://thehill.com/video/campaign/249993-trump-romney-cannot-apologize-for-inartful-comments-at-fundraiser" target="_hplink">Trump said</a> on NBC News. "What he said is probably what he means." Trump also said that Romney's words were "inartfully stated."

  • Erick Erickson

    "The Romney campaign should double down on what he said. They should own it. The trouble for the left and media (but I repeat myself) is that most Americans agree with Mitt Romney. Most Americans consider themselves part of the 53% and it is not a winning proposition for Barack Obama to convince Americans they are less than they think they are when most Americans already recognize he has made them less than they were," <a href="http://www.redstate.com/2012/09/17/treat-the-press-as-enemy-collaborators/" target="_hplink">Erickson wrote</a> in a blog post on RedState.com.

  • Chris Christie

    "[Romney] believes that every American has got to have skin in the game...he doesn't want what the president wants," <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/christie-romney-wants-to-empower-people-135893.html" target="_hplink">Christie said</a> on Fox News, adding that Romney wants to "empower individuals...and that's what he's really talking about."

  • Laura Ingraham

    "The idea that you're declaring, 'Well, the race is over. Mitt Romney doesn't care about people,'" <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/laura-ingraham-fired-up-over-romneys-47-tape-its-ridiculous-this-is-getting-airtime/" target="_hplink">Ingraham said </a>on Fox News. "Meanwhile, you have a president whose policies have undermined the 47 percent. ... I'm very pumped up about this. I think it's ridiculous that people are seizing on it and that we're even giving all that much airtime to it, frankly."

  • Linda McMahon

    "I disagree with Governor Romney's insinuation that 47% of Americans believe they are victims who must depend on the government for their care. I know that the vast majority of those who rely on government are not in that situation because they want to be. People today are struggling because the government has failed to keep America competitive, failed to support job creators, and failed to get our economy back on track," <a href="http://www.lindaforsenate2012.com/news/press-releases/2012/09/18/linda-mcmahon-response-to-mitt-romneys-remarks/" target="_hplink">McMahon said</a> in a statement.

  • Jonah Goldberg

    "To read many of the reactions on Twitter, you'd think Mother Jones had just found video of Mitt Romney strangling a hooker with her own pantyhose," <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/322394/quick-thoughts-freeloaderdammerung-jonah-goldberg" target="_hplink">Goldberg wrote</a>. "Indeed, many people understand what Romney is getting at here, even if he's saying it badly."