Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) slammed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's recently leaked remarks about people that don't pay federal income taxes.
"Mitt Romney's attack on the moral character of disabled veterans, elderly and disabled Social Security recipients, and hard-working Americans in low-wage jobs because they do not pay income taxes is especially galling given the great energy he has put into evading income taxes on his very high income," Frank said in a statement on Tuesday.
Frank noted that many people who do not pay federal income taxes still "pay a significant portion of their income in payroll taxes," adding, "Until Mr. Romney stops hiding his own tax records, we can speculate that those people pay a higher percentage of their income in these taxes than Mr. Romney does on his foreign accounts, tax shelters and other evasive devices."
Romney said to supporters in a video leaked on Monday that 47 percent of Americans "will vote for the president no matter what," "believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it," and "pay no income tax." These claims are largely inaccurate, though Romney stood by their substance in a response to the video's release on Monday.
True or not, Frank said Romney's comments made clear "the philosophical rationale behind efforts of the Romney-Ryan ticket to weaken the Social Security and Medicare safety nets."