Late mother-in-law would have said, '“Guilty as charged, Mr. Romney.”

Dear Mr. Romney:

I noted with interest your comments on the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay taxes. It reminded me of my mother-in-law, who lived with us through two tax-filing seasons. She was 90 when she died last spring. She lived through the Depression and worked as a house mother at a fraternity into her 80s. She was getting $551 a month in Social Security. She didn't pay income taxes, but that's not surprising when your income is around $7,000 a year.

She was under hospice care at the end of her life, hospice care that was paid for in large measure by Medicare. That hospice care allowed us to keep her in our home rather than warehousing her in a care center.

Of course, if Paul Ryan and you get your way, the Medicaid money many middle-class elderly people rely on to pay for nursing home care could go away. That means people like us, who have elderly parents, will have the opportunity to quit our jobs to stay home and take care of that elderly parent.

So, yeah, my late mother-in-law was part of the 47 percent you claim “believe that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”

She's not here to speak for herself, but she was a stand-up woman who I'm sure would have said, “Guilty as charged, Mr. Romney.”

Steve Maravetz

Mount Vernon