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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Realtors, the 3.8% ‘Sales Tax’ and $247 Medicare Premiums

Q: Is the National Association of Realtors lobbying to repeal a 3.8 percent “sales tax” on homes before it takes effect in 2013?

A: No. There’s no such “sales tax” in the new health care law. And Medicare premiums aren’t going to $247 either. But these virulent falsehoods keep going around.

FreedomWorks for America

FreedomWorks for America is a super PAC formed by some of the conservative leaders in the tea party movement.

‘Big Oil’ Backing Romney?

‘Big Oil’ Backing Romney?

A pro-Obama TV ad says that “big oil” pledged $200 million to help Mitt Romney, making him the industry’s “$200 million man.” But that’s a pretty slippery claim. The fact is that there is no evidence that truly big oil companies like BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are behind the money in question. Rather, it’s a funding goal of the Koch brothers, the libertarian billionaires whose diversified corporation has fingers in lumber, commodity trading,

The Whole Truth in Wisconsin Air Wars

The Whole Truth in Wisconsin Air Wars

If using partial truths in political advertising is an art, then ads in the Wisconsin recall election for governor should be in a museum. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are among the Democrats seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker …

Straining the Facts on Federal Spending

Straining the Facts on Federal Spending

A TV ad by a conservative group gives some factually challenged answers to its own rhetorical question, “How exactly does President Obama spend your tax dollars?”

It wrongly claims that the boss of the General Services Administration “couldn’t make it to Vegas because she had meetings planned … at Solyndra.” That’s not true. The claim linking the two scandals is based on an inaccurate April 10 report that was quickly corrected — nearly two weeks before the ad first aired.

Club for Growth Action

Club for Growth Action, the super PAC of the conservative Club for Growth, largely targets Republicans in primaries and Democrats in the general election.

Obama Misquotes GOP Congresswoman

Obama Misquotes GOP Congresswoman

President Obama misrepresented the position of Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx on college debt. The president quoted Foxx as saying that she had “very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt.” But Foxx was speaking explicitly about those with very large amounts of debt, a fact that Obama omitted and that changes the meaning of the North Carolina congresswoman’s statement.
The sin of omission was in Obama’s speech in Boulder, Colo., as the president pushed for the extension of current federal student loan interest rates.

Warren: GE Pays No Taxes

Warren: GE Pays No Taxes

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren evoked corporate tax punching bag General Electric Co. in a recent ad, claiming the corporate giant pays “nothing – zero – in taxes” to make a point about misplaced values. But that’s not accurate.
We should preface this by saying that we are wading into a heated media debate about the amount of taxes paid by GE, and the most crucial number — the amount paid in corporate income tax —

Stretching the Truth in Nebraska

Stretching the Truth in Nebraska

Club for Growth Action is out with another attack ad on Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning, this time stretching to paint him as a “big taxer.” Earlier this month, the group exaggerated Nebraska Attorney General Bruning’s spending record.
The latest ad says Bruning “once called for higher gas taxes and Social Security taxes.” But it doesn’t mention that he did so back in 1992 in an opinion piece in the University of Nebraska’s Daily Nebraskan,