Our research has turned up some more dubious and misleading claims from the economic debate among Republican candidates in Hanover, N.H. Cain claims his 9-9-9 proposal to overhaul the tax code is “simple, transparent, efficient, fair, and neutral.” But his campaign …
An American Crossroads TV ad claims Obama’s position on taxes is “different” than it was in 2009. It isn’t.
The conservative group began airing a new TV ad in St. Louis on Oct. 3 in advance of the president’s fundraising trip to Missouri. The ad, titled “Don’t,” urges Obama not to raise taxes. But it distorts the president’s position on taxes two years ago by taking a snippet of an Obama interview in August 2009 and using it out of context.
A liberal group’s TV spot features a working mother who says she’s like “Warren Buffett’s secretary” and pays higher tax rates than “many billionaires and millionaires.” Not quite. With her $40,000 income and three kids, she’d actually pay a far lower rate than Buffett says he paid on his income. So, she’s not like his secretary. Furthermore, her rate would also be lower than the rate paid by the vast majority of those making more than $1 million a year.
Chris Christie shaded the truth when he took credit for closing New Jersey’s budget gap “without raising taxes.” It’s true he didn’t raise state taxes, but the governor’s first budget extensively revised and reduced a program that once provided residents with local property tax rebate checks. As a result, nearly 1 million homeowners received an average $269 property tax credit in fiscal year 2011, down from an average rebate check of $1,035 the year before.
The New Jersey governor spoke Sept.
President Obama’s claim that he pays a lower tax rate than a teacher making $50,000 a year isn’t true. A single taxpayer with $50,000 of income would have paid 11.9 percent in federal income taxes for 2010, while the Obamas paid more than twice that rate — 25.3 percent (and higher rates than that in 2009 and 2008). And if the $50,000-a-year teacher were in Obama’s tax situation — supporting a spouse and two children —
The GOP presidential candidates debated for the second time in six days — tossing out a variety of false and misleading claims on everything from Social Security to vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases. …
A conservative group falsely paints former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as a “champion of Obamacare.” In fact, Thompson criticized the new health care law at the time of its passage, calling it “the beginning of a government-controlled health care system.” Lately, he has called for it to be “repealed, replaced and rewritten.”
An ad from the conservative Club for Growth Action also accuses Thompson of “massive tax and spending increases” when he was governor. The truth is that the total state/local burden on Wisconsin taxpayers went down during his tenure,
Truth and context are taking a beating in a special election in Nevada to fill a vacant House seat. Both sides are adding some new twists to familiar talking points — and giving voters a peek at campaign …
Tim Pawlenty's repeated claim that he "won" Minnesota's 2005 government shutdown is inconsistent with his view at the time. Shortly after the state budget crisis had been resolved, Pawlenty — then governor of Minnesota — said that "anybody who tries to spin this as a partisan victory should be ashamed of himself."
Pawlenty, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, has boasted he "won" the 2005 shutdown in two TV ads — most recently in "The American Comeback,"
Washington’s spending has recently been higher as a percentage of the nation’s economic output than at any time since World War II. But by the same measure, Washington’s revenues are the lowest in more than 60 years. …