FactCheck.org has produced an analysis of a frequent claim of the McCain campaign that Obama has voted many times to raise taxes. In the process, they also did a fact check on the Obama campaign. Here's what they have to say in their summary of the report, called "Tax Tally Trickery" (July 3, 2008).
- Republican claim that Obama "voted 94 times for higher taxes" is "inflated and misleading" and "padded"
- FactCheck's review of the 94 votes showed:
- 53 of the 94 votes were on budget bills, not tax bills, and thus not tax increase measures;
- 4 of the 94 were on nonbinding resolutions related to conference negotiations;
- 23 of the 94 were for measures that would produce no tax increase at all (they were simply against additional proposed tax cuts);
- 7 of the 94 were for measures to reduce taxes for most, offset by raising taxes on relatively few corporations or wealthy individuals;
- 11 of the 94 votes were to increase taxes on those making more than $1 million annually in order to fund programs such as Head Start, veterans' health care
- many of the items listed were double-counting (or even quadruple counting) of votes on same measure
The summary concludes that Obama has "voted consistently to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers but not on middle-or low-income workers. That's consistent with what he's said he'd do as president, which is to raise taxes only on those making more than $250,000 a year."
These "fact checks" are useful, because the campaign season can easily be filled with hype that repeats ad nauseum misleading statements, and leaves voters with unreliable information on which to base a decision. thanks to FactCheck.org for paying attention to tax as an issue of importance in this campaign.
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