Stoll: '60 Minutes' Didn't Fact Check Obama's Tax Claim

[beretta304]

On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Obama said, “Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.”

As of Monday morning, neither the Washington Post’s Pinocchio-awarding Fact-Checker, nor the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, nor the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning Politifact.com had risen to this opportunity, so let us take a stab.

There are a variety of possible ways to measure the tax burden on American “families” over the past 50 years. Fortunately, Mr. Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget provides a spreadsheet that summarizes federal tax receipts from 1940 through the present. Fifty years ago, in 1962, federal tax receipts were $99.7 billion. In 2011, they were $2.3 trillion. Far from being at a 50-year low, the taxes extracted from American families last year were about 23 times what they were fifty years ago.

It would be a shame if voters fall for Mr. Obama’s misleading claim that their taxes are at a 50-year low. But who can blame the voters, or, for that matter, the fact-checkers, if even Mr. Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, buys into the idea. In the same “60 Minutes” program, Mr. Romney said taxes would remain essentially unchanged if he won. “I don’t want a reduction in revenue coming into the government,” Mr. Romney said.





http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/stoll-60-minutes-obama/2012/09/24/id/457361

 

[occupied]

Do you somehow not see the flaw in that reasoning?

 

[beretta304]

Do you somehow not see the flaw in that reasoning?

No, I post the truth regardless of who it favors.

 

[ilia25]

Oh My God. Have you ever heard of inflation? You know, that thing making incomes and prices rising over time?

You compare taxes you pay to your income, not to the price of milk back in 1962!

 

[occupied]

The question of taxes being lower or higher involves comparing the percentage taken from income not simply comparing gross receipts over fifty years without even adjusting for inflation, do you even read what you post?

 

[Steelplate]

Not to mention....compare percentages...not tax reciepts....nothing like skewing shit to suit your point...

Good God man, how dishonest.

 

[beretta304]

Oh My God. Have you ever heard of inflation? You know, that thing making incomes and prices rising over time?

You compare taxes you pay to your income, not to the price of milk back in 1962!

Try actually reading the article!



Okay, but what about inflation? President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget tries to deal with that question by using something called “constant (FY 2005) dollars.” It’s not as trustworthy a measure as, say, the price of gold, but since the White House uses it, it’s worth at least a look.

By this measure, federal taxes climbed to nearly $2 trillion in 2011 from about $660 billion in 1962. In other words, the taxes trebled, even as the population didn’t even double.

Remember, too, that 1962 wasn’t some kind of blissful Jeffersonian small-government era to which we can never possibly return. It was the height of the Cold War. President Eisenhower had only shortly before warned of the military-industrial complex. President Kennedy was going around giving speeches about how the tax burden was too high.....

 

[beretta304]

The question of taxes being lower or higher involves comparing the percentage taken from income not simply comparing gross receipts over fifty years without even adjusting for inflation, do you even read what you post?

I think I'm the only one who read it. Thanks for asking.

 

[Clementine]

On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Obama said, “Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.”

As of Monday morning, neither the Washington Post’s Pinocchio-awarding Fact-Checker, nor the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, nor the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning Politifact.com had risen to this opportunity, so let us take a stab.

There are a variety of possible ways to measure the tax burden on American “families” over the past 50 years. Fortunately, Mr. Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget provides a spreadsheet that summarizes federal tax receipts from 1940 through the present. Fifty years ago, in 1962, federal tax receipts were $99.7 billion. In 2011, they were $2.3 trillion. Far from being at a 50-year low, the taxes extracted from American families last year were about 23 times what they were fifty years ago.

It would be a shame if voters fall for Mr. Obama’s misleading claim that their taxes are at a 50-year low. But who can blame the voters, or, for that matter, the fact-checkers, if even Mr. Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, buys into the idea. In the same “60 Minutes” program, Mr. Romney said taxes would remain essentially unchanged if he won. “I don’t want a reduction in revenue coming into the government,” Mr. Romney said.





Stoll: '60 Minutes' Didn't Fact Check Obama's Tax Claim

Their idea of fact checking is to ask Obama. The liberal media can find out anything on anybody if they want. I think they know a lot about Obama, but just don't report it. They act more like secretaries taking dictation than reporters seeking the truth.

 

[beretta304]

On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Obama said, “Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.”

As of Monday morning, neither the Washington Post’s Pinocchio-awarding Fact-Checker, nor the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, nor the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning Politifact.com had risen to this opportunity, so let us take a stab.

There are a variety of possible ways to measure the tax burden on American “families” over the past 50 years. Fortunately, Mr. Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget provides a spreadsheet that summarizes federal tax receipts from 1940 through the present. Fifty years ago, in 1962, federal tax receipts were $99.7 billion. In 2011, they were $2.3 trillion. Far from being at a 50-year low, the taxes extracted from American families last year were about 23 times what they were fifty years ago.

It would be a shame if voters fall for Mr. Obama’s misleading claim that their taxes are at a 50-year low. But who can blame the voters, or, for that matter, the fact-checkers, if even Mr. Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, buys into the idea. In the same “60 Minutes” program, Mr. Romney said taxes would remain essentially unchanged if he won. “I don’t want a reduction in revenue coming into the government,” Mr. Romney said.





Stoll: '60 Minutes' Didn't Fact Check Obama's Tax Claim

Their idea of fact checking is to ask Obama. The liberal media can find out anything on anybody if they want. I think they know a lot about Obama, but just don't report it. They act more like secretaries taking dictation than reporters seeking the truth.

More along the same line:

CBS Doesn't Air Obama Admitting Mistakes in Campaign Ads


CBS Doesn't Air Obama Admitting Mistakes in Campaign Ads | The Weekly Standard

 

[Ravi]

On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Obama said, “Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.”

As of Monday morning, neither the Washington Post’s Pinocchio-awarding Fact-Checker, nor the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, nor the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning Politifact.com had risen to this opportunity, so let us take a stab.

There are a variety of possible ways to measure the tax burden on American “families” over the past 50 years. Fortunately, Mr. Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget provides a spreadsheet that summarizes federal tax receipts from 1940 through the present. Fifty years ago, in 1962, federal tax receipts were $99.7 billion. In 2011, they were $2.3 trillion. Far from being at a 50-year low, the taxes extracted from American families last year were about 23 times what they were fifty years ago.

It would be a shame if voters fall for Mr. Obama’s misleading claim that their taxes are at a 50-year low. But who can blame the voters, or, for that matter, the fact-checkers, if even Mr. Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, buys into the idea. In the same “60 Minutes” program, Mr. Romney said taxes would remain essentially unchanged if he won. “I don’t want a reduction in revenue coming into the government,” Mr. Romney said.





Stoll: '60 Minutes' Didn't Fact Check Obama's Tax Claim

That's some really funny math. Wow, you are a dope.

 

[beretta304]

On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Obama said, “Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.”

As of Monday morning, neither the Washington Post’s Pinocchio-awarding Fact-Checker, nor the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, nor the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning Politifact.com had risen to this opportunity, so let us take a stab.

There are a variety of possible ways to measure the tax burden on American “families” over the past 50 years. Fortunately, Mr. Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget provides a spreadsheet that summarizes federal tax receipts from 1940 through the present. Fifty years ago, in 1962, federal tax receipts were $99.7 billion. In 2011, they were $2.3 trillion. Far from being at a 50-year low, the taxes extracted from American families last year were about 23 times what they were fifty years ago.

It would be a shame if voters fall for Mr. Obama’s misleading claim that their taxes are at a 50-year low. But who can blame the voters, or, for that matter, the fact-checkers, if even Mr. Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, buys into the idea. In the same “60 Minutes” program, Mr. Romney said taxes would remain essentially unchanged if he won. “I don’t want a reduction in revenue coming into the government,” Mr. Romney said.





Stoll: '60 Minutes' Didn't Fact Check Obama's Tax Claim

That's some really funny math. Wow, you are a dope.

Let's go with that. Now if I'm a dope what in God's name would that make you with a comment like that.

I think you meant, fuzzy math, imbecile.

Save the jokes for soemone who can tell them.

 

[ilia25]

Oh My God. Have you ever heard of inflation? You know, that thing making incomes and prices rising over time?

You compare taxes you pay to your income, not to the price of milk back in 1962!

Try actually reading the article!



Okay, but what about inflation? President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget tries to deal with that question by using something called “constant (FY 2005) dollars.” It’s not as trustworthy a measure as, say, the price of gold, but since the White House uses it, it’s worth at least a look.

By this measure, federal taxes climbed to nearly $2 trillion in 2011 from about $660 billion in 1962. In other words, the taxes trebled, even as the population didn’t even double.

You've failed to account for rising real incomes. Incomes grew faster than inflation, and so were the tax receipts.

Again, the only fair way to assess the tax burden is by comparing one's taxes to one's income. Do that and the numbers will validate Obama's claim.

 

[BlindBoo]

Just because tax receipts have increased since 1962 why does Ira think that means an increase in the % of income each family pays?

 

[Lovebears65]

I like the fact that the liberal media gave hell about Romney was on Kelly and Michael show while the people who got killed in Libya was returning but did not give the same grief to Obama for flying out to Vegas on the same day they were killed or going ton David Letterman or the View and not talking to the leaders of the world while the middle east is on Fire..

 

[rdean]

The question of taxes being lower or higher involves comparing the percentage taken from income not simply comparing gross receipts over fifty years without even adjusting for inflation, do you even read what you post?

You lost it. It doesn't know what the hell you are talking about. You might as well explain evolution. You will get that same blank stare.