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July 9, 2012
WaPo Fact Checker Gives Obama Tweet 3 Pinocchios
Topics: Political News and commentaries
It's certainly no secret that Team Obama has no compunction whatsoever about stretching the truth to the point of flat-out lying whenever it suits them, and this seems especially the case when it comes to smearing opponents. And the amount of un-truths, distortions, exaggerations, and political spin that's been coming out of the Obama campaign this season has brought these to an entirely new level - to a point of absurdity. So it's obvious that Obama realizes he can't win on his record so he and his campaign believes its only option is to say whatever it thinks it has to for a win is to simply make stuff up ... and Obama's latest assertions are simply more of the same ... earning him 3 Pinochios from the Washington Post for his latest tweet:
"FACT: In 2010 and 2011, Romney paid less than 15% in taxes on $42.5 million in income -- much less than what many middle-class families pay."Good question ... and the answer is a resounding ''no' ...-- Tweet by @BarackObama, July 3, 2012
We are avid readers of tweets by @BarackObama, though of course it is not the president himself but his campaign team that posts them. We are also very curious when politicians claim they have uttered "a fact."
So, is it really true that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who is very wealthy, pays a tax rate "much less" than "many" middle-class families?
... for all the rhetoric about high taxes in the United States, most Americans pay a relatively small percentage of their income in taxes. Second, Romney had an effective rate of 13.9 percent in 2010 and 15.4 percent in 2011, which gives him a higher rate than 80 percent of taxpayers in the first method and puts him just about in the middle of all taxpayers in the second method.And under those net tax rates, Romney still pays around $3 million of his earnings to the federal treasury. So, as has become the custom for the Obama campaign ... in the words of the WaPo, "The Obama campaign's tweet relies on a very slippery 'fact.'"No matter how you slice it, his tax rate is not significantly lower than the tax rate paid by middle-class Americans.
Romney, by receiving much of his income in capital gains and dividends and giving millions of dollars to charity, is certainly able to keep his effective tax rate relatively low, especially compared to a wealthy person who earns much of his or her income in salary. But, even so, Romney still pays an effective tax rate that is higher than the tax rate paid by most Americans.Read the whole thing - here. The 3 Pinocchios are well deserved.
It's gotten to the point that we can always tell when Barack Obama is distorting, exaggerating, and/or spinning ... it's whenever he opens his mouth.
Posted by Hyscience at July 9, 2012 8:42 AM
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