Op-Ed: Romney Deserves A Second Look From Young Voters

One student's opinion of the presidential candidate.

I love my job at Bel Air. I get paid very well, I'm guaranteed a raise, guaranteed hours, guaranteed benefits, and I get discounts. I'm really fortunate to have this job, as many other students my age are having an even harder time making minimum wage.

We all know that feeling of excitement when we get our paycheck and eagerly rip open the envelope to see what awaits us inside as a "reward" for the hours we put into our work. That feeling immediately gets sunk as soon as we see the taxes that are taken out of our paycheck each pay period.

I get my paycheck every Friday, and I pay about $50 a paycheck in taxes for the 24 hours I worked that week. So with all the taxes taken out of my paycheck, I basically work 5 1/2 hours a week just for the government. You can also think of it this way: The government took $50 from my paycheck and gave it to someone else on UI, SSI, TANF, WIC or whatever welfare program.

It's gonna be hard working 4 more years in an Obama economy where I am paying 20% of my income in taxes. At least the Romney-Ryan ticket plans to cut my tax rate back to 16%. In other words, Romney is proposing a 20% across the board cut in everyone's marginal tax rate, similar to the 25% cut made by President Reagan in the '80s. Barack Obama, however, only wants to raise taxes for the top earners. So where does that leave students and other youth like myself who are just scraping by at the bottom? Obama has no intention whatsoever of cutting our tax rates. He doesn't care about a tax break for me or other hard working Americans. He doesn't care about students. He doesn't care about us youth who are trying to get our feet off the ground and make an honest dollar. Thanks to the president, it's gonna be a while before I can afford to move out of my parents' house and start my life on my own (that is, if he's re-elected).

However, if Romney is elected and Congress passes his tax cut proposals, that's $10 more a paycheck that I'm keeping, investing, or saving. So multiply 52 weeks in a year by $10 and that's $520 more a year I'm keeping under a Romney administration. That might not seem like much money, but for a student like myself, $520 a year is a big deal. That's 2-weeks-worth of pay for me.

If you like those taxes that you see coming out of YOUR hard-earned paycheck, I suggest you re-elect Barack Obama.

If you want REAL change and REAL reform, and you want to keep more of YOUR hard-earned paycheck, then I urge you to support Mitt Romney for President.

Don't miss out on the money you COULD be making! Vote Republican this November!


lives in Citrus Heights and is a recent graduate of in Carmichael. Palomo will attend the University of California, Davis in the fall.

Readers, do you support Mitt Romney for President? Why or why not? Please tell us in a comment below.

W September 01, 2012 at 03:36 AM
I have been unemployed this year and will never vote for a banker.
JCT September 01, 2012 at 09:46 AM
Well said. The author obviously has little idea what his tax dollars actual go for, and wrongly repeat the right-wing mantra that most of it goes to welfare. He maybe shocked that about 25% goes towards defense, and less than 1/5 goes to so-called welfare. The rest are various things to support a society that enables him to have a 'well paying stable job'. Maybe he feels we don't need to pay for that. Had he done more research, maybe he'll realize 20% is a ridiculous low rate for in industrialized country. He may think lower taxes is the end-all by-all, but he's going to be in for a surprise when taxes jump to over 40% because we can no longer pay for a functional government and our debt at the same time.
JCT September 01, 2012 at 09:56 AM
Here you go bro, how your tax dollars are being used: http://www.whitehouse.gov/2011-taxreceipt The government didn't take $50 from your paycheck and gave it all to someone else on welfare.
Bobby September 23, 2012 at 03:49 AM
If you read it correctly, you would see he was working 5 1/2 hours for someone else during the week. Please read thoroughly before cutting down someone else.
Chili Davis October 03, 2012 at 05:01 AM
I find it ironic that the author, who is arguing for less taxes, is choosing to earn his degree from a state funded university.


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