Political Spam

There's a piece of political spam going around. Actually, there's a lot of political spam going around. I usually just ignore it and move on. However I've decided that failure to counter the pure idiocy that masquerades as an effort to inform only plays into the hands of the people who publish this pablum.

Some people ignore such e-mails. Many don't. Some fact check the claims that purport to be fact. Many don't. The result is that outrageous claims enter the popular consciousness with nary a whisper of debate.

I'm sure this sort of thing happens on both sides of the aisle. I've decided, however, that this election is too important to cede even one iota of truth.

I realize that my effort is but a cocktail umbrella against a torrential deluge. But I am compelled to do something, anything, to try and defend against such underhanded tactics.

-----Original Message-----

From: Mike Buck
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 12:16 AM
Subject: RE: Very Interesting Tax Facts CORRECTIONS

All,

With all due respect, the original e-mail below makes a number of questionable and inaccurate claims. The e-mail also misleads by citing facts out of context.

I am responding to address the inaccurate claims made in the original e-mail. I hope you will examine the source material cited below (or seek your own sources). I have made every effort to provide complete information and source citations for all claims. And, unlike the author of the original e-mail below, I am proud to sign my name and e-mail.

Mike Buck


John Kerry's House

The e-mail claims "Kerry owns 4 mansions" while George Bush owns only his ranch in Texas.

There is no doubt that both George W. Bush and John Kerry are wealthy men. Despite his wealth, however, it is not accurate to say that John Kerry owns 4 mansions. John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, signed a prenuptial agreement and have kept their premarital assets separate. Of the five homes (not 4 as the e-mail implies) owned by either Kerry or his wife only the Boston townhouse is owned jointly. The other four homes belonged to Teresa before her 1995 marriage to John Kerry, and some of them are even still listed under the name of her late husband, the late Republican Senator John Heinz.

The e-mail also attempts to predjudice the reader with the claim that the Idaho vacation home was "brought over from Europe in pieces." This is true. What is left unstated, however, is that the home was brought over from England by the late John Heinz. As a Heinz family asset, John Kerry has no claim to the home.

Sources:
FactCheck.org
Snopes Urban Legends
Urban Legends and Folklore


Presidential Candidates Tax Burdens

The e-mail cites incorrect figures for the amount of federal taxes actually paid by George W. Bush and John Kerry. More importantly, the e-mail fails to provide income figures from which the tax amounts are derived.

For the 2003 tax year George W. Bush's paid $227,490 in federal taxes on $822,126 of total income (of which $727,083 was taxable).

For the 2003 tax year John Kerry paid $90,575 in federal taxes on $395,338 of total income (of which $346,664 was taxable income).

John Kerry paid less in taxes because he had less income. The e-mail asks, does that sound right?

The e-mail doesn't tell you that John Kerry's tax burden tripled from 2002 to 2003 (from $29,946 to $90,575), despite the tax cut. Does that sound right? What if you knew that from 2002 to 2003 Kerry's taxable income increased by $145,805 due to capital gains resulting from the sale of some property?

The point is that the author of the original e-mail wants you to draw a conclusion about John Kerry without providing you with all the relevant facts. Why would he do that?

Sources:
Tax History Project
Citizens for Tax Justice - Bush & Cheney Tax Returns
U.S. Newswire - Kerry Releases 2003 Income Tax Returns
Washington Post - President Benefits From His Tax Cut


John Kerry's Tax Relief Plan

Do you make more than $200,000?

The e-mail makes the claim that John Kerry wants to raise your taxes. This claim may be true. But only if you make more than $200,000.

If your income is less than $200,000 per year or if you are a small business owner then John Kerry wants to CUT your taxes.

Only if you are among the 2% of American taxpayers whose income exceeds $200,000 would the Kerry plan raise your taxes, reverting to the tax rate in effect in 2000.

Sources:
John Kerry - A Plan To Strengthen The Middle Class
John Kerry - A Plan to Restore Fiscal Responsibility
John Kerry - A Stronger Economy


Bush Tax Increase

The e-mail alludes to a John Kerry speech "in which he claimed Americans are actually paying more taxes under Bush, despite the tax cuts." Though the author does not quote from or cite the date on which the speech was delivered. Based upon the assumption that the e-mail was original authored around 144 days before the election (see last line of the e-mail) the author is likely referring to remarks John Kerry delivered on March 10, 2004. The full text of the speech is available online.

The e-mail goes on to claim that "He gave no explanation and provided no data for this claim."

If you read the speech you will learn that John Kerry did, in fact, provide an explanation for his claim:

"With George Bush’s tax cuts, the top one percent of taxpayers have received almost forty percent of the breaks. Meanwhile middle class working people have seen their share of the tax burden go up, not down.

"If you add up the true costs of this President’s economic policies, you get a Bush Tax of higher property taxes, higher fees, higher health care costs – at the same time middle class incomes are going down. In thirty-two states, state and local property taxes have gone up. This Bush Tax can take thirty-five hundred dollars or more from the pockets of America’s middle class. And they can’t afford that price."

It may be the case that you personally did not experience a $3,500 increase in local taxes, state taxes, health care costs and other fees. It may be the case that your wages have increased in the last three years. But it is not the case, as the e-mail asserts, that Kerry provided no explanation or data to justify his claim.

Sources:
John Kerry - Tax Fairness for Americans (March 10, 2004)


Tax Freedom Day

The e-mail refers to an unnamed "independent tax watchdog group." The organization the e-mail is most likely referring to is the Tax Foundation which is well known for calculating and annually publicizing a Tax Freedom Day. The Tax Freedom Dates in the e-mail are consistent with the dates published by the Tax Foundation in recent years.

What the e-mail does not explain, however, is that there is considerable controversy regarding the methods the Tax Foundation uses in its calculations.

"Over the years, pundits and policymakers often have misinterpreted the Tax Foundation's reports as reflecting the level of the tax burdens that the broad swath of middle-income families must shoulder; the Tax Foundation's presentations invite this misinterpretation. In fact, however, middle-income taxpayers pay significantly less in taxes as a share of their income than the Tax Foundation's report implies. The Tax Foundation’s annual Tax Freedom Day report consistently shows significantly higher tax burdens than those that authoritative, nonpartisan sources find middle-income taxpayers actually bear." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Among other things, the Tax Foundation relies on the term "average" to help imply an unwarranted conclusion. Even Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that the type of approach the Tax Foundation uses — dividing total tax receipts by total income, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product or a similar measure, to determine an overall average tax rate — is not valid.

"Suppose four families with incomes of $50,000 each pay $2,500 in income tax — five percent of their income — while one wealthy family with $400,000 in income pays $80,000 in income tax, or 20 percent of its income. If one averages these figures, one finds that 15 percent of the total income of these five families goes to pay federal income taxes. (Dividing the families' total tax payments of $90,000 by their total income of $600,000 shows that 15 percent of their total income is paid in income taxes.)"

"Under the Tax Foundation methodology, this 15 percent figure would be used to say or imply that the average family in this group pays 15 percent of its income in income taxes and must work until 15 percent of the year has passed to pay its income tax bill. Yet the 15 percent figure is highly misleading as an indicator of the typical tax burden of families in this group. The four moderate-income families in the group pay five percent of their income in income tax, or one-third of the average 15 percent rate. Using averages in this fashion when talking about tax burdens, as the Tax Foundation does, produces skewed results; it essentially ascribes to average taxpayers the tax rates that only people at considerably higher income levels pay." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Sources:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - TAX FOUNDATION FIGURES DO NOT REPRESENT MIDDLE-INCOME TAX BURDENS
Tax Foundation - Tax Freedom Day


Conclusion

The original e-mail claims that John Kerry "wants to raise your taxes [although he] obviously has figured out a way to avoid paying his own." With more complete and accurate facts than provided in the original e-mail below you might ask yourself: Why has the author provided incomplete and inaccurate information without links to sources?

Please pass this on.

As of Saturday, July 31 the election is only 93 days away.

Mike Buck

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 9:49 AM
Subject: FW: Very Interesting Tax Facts

I know some of you lean to the left...no worries...just thought this was interesting.

>
> Tax Facts
>
>
> Every year an independent tax watchdog group analyzes
> the average tax burden on Americans, and then
> calculates the "Tax Freedom Day". This is the day
> after which the money you earn goes to you, not the
> government.
>
> This year, tax freedom day was April 11th. That's the
> earliest it has been since 1991 It's latest day ever
> was May 2nd, which occurred in 2000.
>
> Notice anything special about those dates?
>
> Today John Kerry gave a speech in which he claimed
> Americans are actually paying more taxes under Bush,
> despite the tax cuts. He gave no explanation and
> provided no data for this claim.
>
> Another interesting fact: Both George Bush and John
> Kerry are wealthy men.
>
> Bush owns only one home, his ranch in Texas.
>
> Kerry owns 4 mansions, all worth several million
> dollars. (His ski resort home in Idaho is an old barn
> brought over from Europe in pieces. Not your average
> A-frame).
>
> Bush paid $250,000 in taxes this year; Kerry paid
> $90,000. Does that sound right?
>
>
> The man who wants to raise your taxes obviously has
> figured out a way to avoid paying his own.
>
> Pass this on. Only 144 days until the election.
>