Romney is confused. He says 47% are on the dole. He comes to this conclusion by saying 47% don’t pay income tax.
Our income tax system has become a witches’ cauldron of social and economic programs. If you count all the things in the tax code that really are entitlements, virtually all taxpayers are on the dole in some sense. For instance, the child credit, the mortgage interest deduction, the charitable contribution deduction, the college tuition credit, etc.
If you’re self-employed and making a moderate income, there’s a good chance that you’ll be paying no income tax because of what you’re paying for medical insurance and self-employment tax. You’re still paying lots of money to Uncle Sam in the form of self-employment tax, and you’re no more on the dole than Romney himself, who I’m sure itemizes his deductions.