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Article posted: 9/18/2012 6:31 PM

Half avoid taxes, get US help, but many not poor

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Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may not have put it delicately, but he was right about what percentage of Americans paid no federal income taxes last year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Mitt Romney got the math about right. But when he said 47 percent of Americans pay no income taxes and are "dependent on government," he blurred together half or more of the entire country, ranging from the nation's neediest to its middle class, and even some of its richest families.