OBAMA At Univision Town Hall Today: "People want a hand up, not a handout."
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________
For Immediate Release September 20, 2012
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT UNIVISION TOWN HALL
WITH JORGE RAMOS AND MARIA ELENA SALINAS
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
2:15 P.M. EDT
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Q Mr. President, I had the opportunity to watch our conversation with Mitt Romney yesterday, but previously in a video he has said that he was not concerned about the 47 percent of the population in the United States. But yesterday he said that he wanted to be the President of 100 percent of Americans. For you, which is the two is the true Mitt Romney? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, here’s what I would say. First of all, I’ve been President now for almost four years. But the day I was elected, that night in Grant Park where I spoke to the country, I said, 47 percent of the people didn’t vote for me, but I’ve heard your voices and I’m going to work just as hard for you as I did for those who did vote for me. That’s how you have to operate as a President. I truly believe that. (Applause.)
I think your question, Jorge, about what’s the real Mitt Romney is better directed to Mr. Romney. But I will say this. When you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven’t gotten around a lot, because I travel around the country all the time and the American people are the hardest working there are. (Applause.)
And their problem is not that they're not working hard enough, or they don't want to work, or they're being taxed too little, or they just want to loaf around and gather government checks. We’ve gone through a challenging time. People want a hand up, not a handout.
Are there people who abuse the system? Yes, both at the bottom and at the top -- because there are a whole bunch of millionaires who aren’t paying taxes at all either. (Applause.) But when you look -- last point I’d make -- when you look statistically, it turns out that even if people aren’t paying income taxes, they're paying payroll taxes. They're paying gas taxes. They're paying sales taxes. They're paying state and local taxes.
So the fact of the matter is that the few people who are not paying -- the people who are not paying income taxes are either paying a lot of taxes because they're working every day but they just don't make enough money overall to pay income tax; or alternatively, they're senior citizens; or they’re students who -- I know these guys aren’t making a lot of money, even with some work-study program. (Laughter.) Or they're disabled; or, in some cases, they're veterans or soldiers who are fighting for us right now overseas -- they don't pay an income tax.
And so I just think it’s very important for us to understand Americans work hard, and if they're not working right now, I promise you they want to get to work. And that's what my economic plan is designed to do, to get more people back to work, and to lift up
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