Q: Did Democrats increase federal income tax rates in 2014 under Obamacare?
A: No. Tax increases mentioned in a viral email went into effect a year earlier, as part of a budget deal supported by many Republicans as well as most Democrats.
Competing ads in a Republican congressional primary in Pennsylvania go too far in their attacks related to federal farm subsidies and a vehicle mileage tax.
Sen. Tim Scott claims that the Affordable Care Act’s taxes of $800 billion hit small businesses and families. But that’s misleading on several levels.
Q: Does the health care law contain a “hidden” tax on hunting and fishing equipment?
A: No. There is a 2.3 percent excise tax on certain medical devices. Cabela’s, a Nebraska sporting goods company, applied the tax to some of its customers’ purchases by mistake.
Democrat Terry McAuliffe uses the reluctance of his Republican opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, to name the tax exemptions and loopholes he would eliminate to offset his proposed tax cuts as the basis for misleading, doomsday claims about Cuccinelli’s tax plan.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie conflated statistics when he claimed Sen. Rand Paul’s “pork-barrel spending” is the reason Kentucky receives more federal funds than New Jersey for every tax dollar it sends to Washington.
A conservative group misleadingly claims Sen. Mitch McConnell “funded the implementation of Obamacare.” McConnell voted to fund the government — including the department responsible for the Affordable Care Act.
Reviewing some key statistical measures of Barack Obama’s presidency so far, we find: The economy has added more jobs since Obama took office than it did in his predecessor’s entire eight years in office. Despite the improved economy, the number of people receiving food-stamp assistance has continued to grow …
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell twisted some fiscal facts in his appearances on the Sunday talk show circuit:
McConnell said the Obama administration has “driven spending as a percentage of our economy from 21 percent up to almost 25 percent.” But it was already projected to be almost 25 percent — actually 24.9 percent — in fiscal year 2009 even before Obama took office.
He also said “99 percent of Americans will not see their taxes go up”
In a Web video, President Barack Obama leaves out some key facts about the fiscal cliff deal, possibly leaving the wrong impression about its impact on taxpayers and the deficit:
Obama boasts that “middle-class families” will not have to “pay upwards of $2,000 more in taxes this year.” That’s accurate for income taxes, but Obama doesn’t mention that the deal allowed a payroll tax cut to expire. About 77 percent of taxpayers will pay more in taxes this year —