Fact Check: On Obama, “The press warns the ‘Taxman Cometh.’”
Taking a page out of recent Obama campaign ads, the McCain campaign released a TV ad on Aug. 15 called “Taxman” that cites items from three newspapers to bolster its argument that “Obama’s new taxes could break your family budget.”
We think it’s misleading to cite an editorial from one of the country’s most conservative large paper editorial boards and present it as “the press.”
Obama would increase the top income tax bracket from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. So there’s no argument that for the wealthiest Americans the taxman cometh under Obama’s plan. But there would be no change in tax rates for families with an adjusted gross income of less than $250,000. Translation: most Americans. Obama also would increase capital gains and dividend taxes rates from 15 percent to 20 percent for those who make over $250,000. Obama also proposes a $1,000 tax credit on income for working families ($500 for singles), to offset payroll taxes.
In its response to the ad, the Obama campaign cites a host of stories and editorials from major newspapers and political Web sites that conclude Obama’s plan would result in a tax cut for most middle class Americans. There’s even an opinion piece by Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee in the Wall Street Journal that concludes, “Overall, Sen. Obama’s middle-class tax cuts are larger than his partial rollbacks for families earning over $250,000, making the proposal as a whole a net tax cut and reducing revenues to less than 18.2% of GDP -- the level of taxes that prevailed under President Reagan.”
But our primary gripe here is with an ad that deceptively tries to lend its message an air of credibility by claiming that it comes from an independent voice, "the press." This is becoming more commonplace, particular with the Obama campaign as we explore in this story. We examined an Obama ad that uses news citations and concluded that it was Half True.
With MCain, there is a kernel of truth to the claim, in that editorials are part of the press, but voters clearly understand the difference between news reports and articles of opinion.
Opinions make the political world go around, but the point is that there are many points of view about Obama’s and McCain’s tax plans and to present three editorials - two from historically conservative editorial boards - as the voice of "the press" is going too far.
For those reasons, we rate the ad Barely True.
-- Source: Politifact
