Falsehood: A new ad by the RNC claimed that Barack Obama voted in favor of a bill, while he was in the Illinois State Senate, that, if enacted, would have banned "most of the privately held shot guns, target rifles and black powder rifles in Illinois."
Fact: The bill referred to in the ad actually would not have banned target rifles or privately held shot guns. The bill would have actually banned "semiautomatic assault weapons, large capacity ammunition feeding devices, and assault weapon attachments."
Falsehood: A new RNC ad claimed that Obama's plan to raise capital gains taxes "would hurt the middle class."
Fact: This would be true if most middle class Americans paid the capital gains tax, but they don't.
According to Factcheck.org, only 13% of all Americans who filed their taxes in 2006 reported earning any capital gains. Out of the 13%, about half of them could be considered "middle class," as about 50% of them made $100,000 or less in 2006 (if your definition of middle class is up to $100,000 per year).
Also, what is omitted from the RNC ad is the fact that Obama would only raise the capital gains rate on Americans making more than $250,000 per year.
Falsehood: The ad then falsely implied that Obama would increase the payroll taxes of most Americans. "Barack Obama also promises to raise the payroll tax cap on millions of workers and small businesses," the ad said.
Fact: What Obama has said is that he would raise the ceiling on the social security tax to help keep social security solvent into the future.
Raising the ceiling on social security taxes would affect only Americans making more than $102,000 per year. Only 5% of Americans make more than $100,000 per year.
Thus, 95% of Americans would not be affected by raising the ceiling on the social security tax.
Falsehood: Debate moderator Charles Gibson claimed that a cut in the capital gains tax in 2003 led to an increase in government revenue.
Fact: One study, authored by former President of the Club for Growth Stephen Moore, concluded that increased tax revenue was the result of the capital gains tax cuts passed by Congress in 2003.
However, an analysis done by The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities came to a different conclusion. The analysis found the following:
Despite claims that the tax cuts have generated a revenue surge and have thus "paid for themselves," revenues, too, have grown at below-average rates — exactly as one would expect in the aftermath of two large tax cuts. Based on the new Office of Management and Budget projections, revenues at the end of fiscal year 2007 will be only 3.1 percent higher than when the current business cycle began in 2001, after adjusting for inflation and population growth. This is far below the 12 percent average revenue increase over comparable periods of previous post-World War II business cycles and the 16 percent increase during the 1990s.
This seems like a classic case of picking and choosing.
Falsehood: Hillary Clinton claimed that raising the ceiling on the social security payroll tax for individuals making more than $97,000 a year would "impose additional taxes on people who are educators here in the Philadelphia area or in the suburbs, police officers, fire fighters and the like."
Fact: Very few fire fighters or police officers would be affected by lifting the cap on social security payroll taxes. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual earnings of fire fighters in 2006 was $41,190. In addition to this, only 10% earned more than $66,000 annually.
The situation for police officers is not much different. The median annual salary for police officers in 2006 was $47,460. According to the same statistics only 10% of police officers made more than $72,000 in 2006. So, it is clear that very few fire fighters or police officers would be effected by lifting the cap.
Even though Clinton did not say all fire fighters or police officers would be effected by the change, she certainly implied that a higher percentage would and for this we find her claim misleading.
Falsehood: A new McCain campaign ad attacked both Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's economic plans.
The ad claimed that both Democratic candidates would respond to the current economic downturn by raising taxes across the board.
Fact: Neither Democratic candidate has ever said they would raise taxes across the board to solve the country's economic ills.
According to Barack Obama's website, his plan for the economy would include the following:
Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
However, Barack Obama has said that he would repeal the Bush tax cuts that went to the wealthiest Americans.
Hillary Clinton's plan, on the other hand, contains many similar prescriptions as Obama's plan.
According to her website, her plan would include the following:
Lower taxes for middle class families by: extending the middle class tax cuts including child tax credit and marriage penalty relief, offering new tax cuts for healthcare, college and retirement, and expanding the EITC and the child care tax credit.
But, just like Obama, she has said that she would let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans expire.
