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The White House Blasts Fox News For Misleading Viewers On Tax Cuts
Today, the White House accused Fox News of misleading their viewers about taxing the rich, and offered a point by point debunking of the Fox talking points.
Here is the Fox News Sunday video where Chris Wallace misinforms his audience about the wealthy and taxes:
Chris Wallace tried to argue that taxes should not be increased on the wealthy by saying, “1 percent of households with the highest incomes pay 38 percent of federal income taxes. The top 10 percent pay 70 percent of federal income taxes. Meanwhile, 46 percent of households pay no federal income tax at all.”
Today on the White House Blog, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer called out Wallace’s stats, “These statistics are misleading and don’t tell the whole story. They leave out payroll taxes that every worker pays to make sure they will have Social Security and Medicare when they retire, which fall disproportionately on the middle class. And they don’t mention that the share of the nation’s income going to the highest earners grew rapidly in the past two decades – at the same time tax rates fell for the highest earners. In fact, because of growing income inequality, the top 10 percent of American earners now earns 42 percent of the nation’s income, and when correctly calculated, pay about 50 percent of the federal income and payroll tax burden – not much larger than their share of earnings.”
Pheiffer was just getting warmed up. He followed up with a point by point debunking of the Fox News talking points,
Claim: The top 10 percent wealthiest Americans pay 70 percent of federal income taxes.
Fact: This statistic presents a deeply misleading picture of the actual federal tax burden because (1) it fails to include payroll taxes, which every worker pays, and which fall disproportionately on the middle class, and (2) because it doesn’t reflect that high-income Americans earn a disproportionate share of income.
- Payroll taxes account for 34 percent of federal revenues. They only apply to income earned on the job – not income from capital gains on investments, which make up a much greater share of the income of the top 10 percent. And payroll taxes for Social Security are capped at $106,800.
- For both of these reasons, wealthier Americans face a disproportionately lower burden from payroll taxes. According to the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the wealthiest 10 percent only pay 25 percent of all payroll taxes.
- Counting both payroll and income taxes, the top 10 percent only pay about 50 percent of that tax burden – not much larger than their share of our nation’s income (around 42 percent).
Claim: The 1 percent of households with the highest incomes pay 38 percent of federal income taxes.
Fact: This statistic again ignores the payroll taxes that every working American pays, and the fact that incomes of the top 1 percent have increased rapidly in recent years.
- As with calculations about the tax burden of the top 10 percent, this claim ignores payroll taxes that every American worker pays, but fall much less on the highest earners.
- In fact, the top 1 percent of all Americans only pay 4.1 percent of the nation’s payroll taxes. Overall, they pay about one-quarter of federal income and payroll taxes.
- While the top 1 percent pays about one-quarter of our federal income and payroll tax, they also earn 19 percent of our nation’s income.
Claim: 46 percent of households pay no federal income tax at all.
Fact: Around 82 percent of Americans pay income or payroll taxes, and those who don’t are mostly elderly people.
Ignoring payroll taxes presents a particularly misleading picture for middle income taxpayers. In fact, according to the independent, non-partisan Tax Policy Center, around 82 percent of Americans pay income or payroll taxes.
Fox News has become the primary propagator of the myth that nearly half of Americans don’t pay taxes, and Chris Wallace was trying to make the ridiculous argument that the rich shouldn’t have to pay more, even though they make more money. Fox News has been trying for months to turn the fairness argument on its ear in order to defend the polices of the last decade that caused the tax burden to trickle down and crush 98% of the American people.
The current rate of taxation is unfair to everyone who is not rich. The American people were promised prosperity if the wealthy were given special treatment, but a decade has passed and prosperity has never come around our corner. It is good to see the White House taking on the media mouthpiece of privilege and entitlement. The Obama administration has had good messages on a variety of issues, but sometimes struggled to communicate them in a simple and effective manner.
On the issues of jobs and taxes the administration now has a simple message that it is taking to the American people. They are also excelling at countering the distortions and misinformation coming from the right. As nice as it is to see the White House mixing it up with Fox News, more importantly, they are winning the message war on jobs and taxes.
The Obama message on taxes is the same as it was in December. The difference is that the White House is now presenting taxation as a moral issue, and this approach has connected with the American people.
The battle for 2012 is on, and it looks like the White House is no longer going to let Fox News roam unchecked.
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38 Responses to The White House Blasts Fox News For Misleading Viewers On Tax Cuts
J
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Bill Clinton needs to go back into a interview with Wallace and show him who’s the master of facts. In their last interview, Clinton fought back with so much truth after being accused of not doing enough on terror that Wallace had no comeback and was like “All right, all right”
DannyEastVillage
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
so glad he did that. When Clinton left office–this was publicized but everybody in the bought media were slobbering all over Bush–when Clinton left office they leaned into the incoming administration about OBL – but they were so invested in their hatred of Clinton that they wouldn’t listen. So naturally they tried to cover up their culpability concerning the events of 911 by after-the-fact trying to blame Clinton. Clinton was on OBL’s tail but the repubs had a different agenda than national security, as the events of 911 amply demonstrate.
Cassandra Vert
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Tucked in there were these tidbits, though it’s not clear to me if they are talking about wage income or all income:
The top 1% earn 19% of the U.S. total and pay only 4.1% of payroll tax.
The top 10% earn 42% of the U.S. total and pay only 25% of payroll tax.
I wonder why they didn’t include sales tax, which is large and also regressive. Perhaps because it would be mixing state and federal tax.
Michelle Gould
Sep. 28th, 2011 at 5:51 am
A flat sales tax with not income tax would do more to grow the economy because the government would have to more to support growth to get money to govern. Old idea but really works and this is from a liberal person. This would be an environment where large international corporations would pay up front for the business they do in the US. It also gives the “poor” consumer a small monetary vote to offset lobbying money. OH sales of stock is then taxable and a a employee of a company who gave me as a worker stock I gladly pay. Oh if you think the very rich can wait out this they still pay tax because that is money movement and taxed when they pay staff and help. Oh and small new business will know what they pay as business grows instead of paying a money cruncher to keep governmental expenses in check. Small business then gets an even playing field and big business has a defined business field. NO SPECIAL PRACTICE NEEDED.
Oh just a thought government workers retirement should be tied to their to what they do and not how many people they have reporting to them.
Just a simple idea old and new
Cassandra Vert
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
And by the way, good for the White House standing up to Fox. Doesn’t this country seem like Wonderland sometimes? Forty years ago, the press called out the corruption of government. Today the White House calls out the corruption of the press. The press is supposed to be the defenders of the truth, not its inventors.
Stephen Kingsley
Oct. 1st, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Really? Fox news is saying INCOME TAX. Their numbers are correct. The White House is adding in PAYROLL TAXES, which were designed to be used solely for Social Security and Medicare. Today, the White House is raiding Social Security and Medicare to pay for other things. Today, the White House is NOT proposing to reduce the burden of the middle class by removing the cap on payroll taxes (so that the rich will pay the exact same FAIR share as everybody else) but to raise INCOME tax rates which are already higher for the wealthy than those less fortunate. Just exactly who is being corrupt in this picture?
Sarah Jones
Oct. 1st, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Oh, it can’t be Fox News. It’s not as if they have an agenda or donated millions to the RGA or were refused entry in Canada because the Canadians have a law about not lying in news. Go with them. Sure winner.
Shelley Mendias
Oct. 5th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
If you are talking about the Bush White House. I agree totally. Bush and his cronies, put us where we are today, robbed Social Security and Medicare. This was all in his plan when he wanted to privatize social security. If he would have got that through, it scares me where we would be today.
Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 5th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I can guarantee you that whatever you had privatized in the stock market, would be gone.
Lee Travis
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Another thing Fox ignores is that 1% of Americans hold approximately 40% of the wealth. The tpoe 10% hold approximately 80% of the wealth. So they should be paying a larger percentage of the income tax. Maybe if the wealth wasn’t being hoarded by the top, the bottom 90% could pay some income tax. Instead the wrong headed right think that the people who have no wealth need to pay their “fair share.”
And no one is talking about how much of that wealth the 10% holds is made from tax exempt manipulation of the financial markets.
rm
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Fox News chief Ailes says Palin part of ‘a branding problem’
www.thedailybeast.com/new...
DannyEastVillage
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Fox woudn’t be Fox without lies. It’s probably in their mission statement.
Mykelb
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Exactly why they cannot transmit in Canada. They have laws against lying on the “news”.
A Walkaway
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
It doesn’t seem that they’re including income from stocks, bonds, etc. in the calculations (usually the primary source of income for the rich).
Or am I missing something?
newmeximan
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Pointed out in the article and by the Whitehouse – capital gains tax is currently at 15% and the GOP want to make that number zero.
Hedgefunds don’t invest in the long term health of a corporation – they are only interested in the quarterly dividends. If the dividends don’t meet the street expectations, the hedgefund will sell off the stock, causing the stock price to plummet, for no good reason other than greed.
The wealthy are not job creators. In fact, their desire for large dividends actually cause the corporations to layoff employees to meet street expectations.
The wealthy are the problem, not the solution. Eisenhower taxed the wealthy at 95%, since to profit off of WW 2 was considered immoral. If only the GOP could remember their own party’s history.
Don
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
No body seem to understand that you and
your employer pay into FICA at 15.2% on
106,800. That comes to 16,233.60. Now
if you were to make 1,068,000. All you pay
is 16,233.60 witch comes to only .0152%.
This is just not fair.
Michelle Gould
Sep. 29th, 2011 at 6:22 am
more tax on those who work and others earn dividends
Randy R.
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Most Americans don’t know that Fox News was refused in their application for Canada. It seems that Canada has a “truth in broadcasting” law. Because Fox has admitted that they lie (in court, in Florida, 2003), they could only slink away. Granted, Canadians who subscribe to cable can pick it up being broadcast from the USA. The fact remains, Fox cannot get a license to broadcast in Canada because they’re liars.
The USA has nothing like that.
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
We need a tax rate with no deductions period.
imaginary numbers of coruse
10,000-20,000 = 2% tax rate
20,000-30,000 = 3%
40,000-50,000 = 4%
etc etc.
a 10% sales tax nationally with no state taxes.
I have spoken.
Fox News needs to go the way of the dinosaur. Regular and frequent outing of their lies will tell the people who follow them to find someone else who lies a few less times per day. The whitehouse is right to call them out.
Mykelb
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Another fact they failed to mention in the article is that the top 2% of earners had an increase of earning of 450% in the last 10 years. That’s ridiculous.
Rick Shreiner
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Wallace wants to make it seem that the wealthy pay more than their fair share, stating: “1 percent of households with the highest incomes pay 38 percent of federal income taxes.”
In fact these same people hold a far greater percentage of the nation’s wealth [well over 40%] than they pay as a percentage of the total taxes collected [38%].
And that’s not even BEGINNING to factor in capital gains and money held in offshore accounts.
newmeximan
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Fox has inadvertently made the strongest argument for tax increases as part of a balanced budget amendment. If the cost of running a nation increases, the burden should be shared by all, no matter how they try to fuzzy the math. If we are short 10% in a fiscal year, taxes should be raised for all by 10%. Of course the wealthy will pay more taxes. They have more money.
Patrick Alexander
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Social security tax I do not consider a real tax. It is a government run savings plan for the populace. Unfortuneatly the government uses these social security taxes for means other than paying it back to the people who paid into it. Theoretically you can get back on the social security you put in if you live long enough. Is that added into the calculation? All the people who got paid back their social security tax when they retired. I bet not.
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 26th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
The government needs to get out of the pension biz, I think that would make SS more palatable.
Put everyone into 401′s and let Wall Street screw em like they let Wall Street screw us
Steven Clark
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 1:33 am
And NO ONE asks why SO MANY do not make enough money to pay Federal Income tax
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 10:21 am
that whole tax not being paid thing was over the year 2009 when taxes were dropped for one year. The question I want to ask or see answered is how can this country survive with all of its wealth in the top 20%
pcinsc
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 1:45 am
thank you. i shared this on facebook!
Regina
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 6:33 am
FOX news twist everything …
Scotia Colleen
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 10:42 am
It’s about time the WH takes on the lying machine that is FOX News. That and it’s interesting to watch the MSM let the GOP off the hook when they claim we can’t tax the job creators! What job creators as we’ve had the Bush tax cuts for 10 years now and the most robust our economy has been in recent decades is in the 90′s when Clinton was in office and he revised the tax code.
Say it loud Mr. President and call out the liars!
JoshSN
Sep. 27th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
State and local taxes are, on average, much more regressive than Federal Income Taxes.
www.CTJ.org/pdf/taxday201...
Also, next time this article needs to be written, make sure to mention the % of total federal tax receipts that the income tax is, right after mentioning it is 34% payroll taxes. It almost reads like payroll is 1/3rd and income taxes are 2/3rds, when they are nearly equal.
Michelle Gould
Sep. 29th, 2011 at 6:25 am
Why not a flat slates tax on everything. Gets rid of IRS and states have collection.
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 29th, 2011 at 7:54 am
So each state has its own military? And you give the power of collection to a state like Wisconsin that is owned by the Koch brothers?
syracuseny
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Pssst. Michelle Gould isn’t the brightest bulb in the box.
JimmyPowers
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Seriously, this response excites you people? How is the FACT (not just a claim) that the top 10% earners pay 70% of federal INCOME taxes misleading in a debate about INCOME TAX RATES!!! If you introduce payroll taxes, please introduce capital gains taxes.
It is a FACT that after refunds 50% of Americans pays ZERO into the FEDERAL INCOME TAX!!! That has nothing to do with the payroll tax! I would like to know the percentage of capital gains paid by the top 10%. Even these numbers show very clearly that the top 10% pay far more than others.
Finally, what’s misleading is the idiotic notion that there is one pot of money and the top 1% are taking 19% of it. Please explain how the amount of money an exec at Exxon or Apple earns, has ANY effect on how much money my business makes, how much I or my employees make? You people are sick and plainly want to take from those who have more than you. I wonder how much you would be willing to give up at the demand of people who have much less than you.
Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
That only applied for 2009 when Obama gave credits to low wage earners to get money put on the street. Now go back and try again.
Mia Susanna
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
When a CEO makes about 470 times that of the workers of the same company, you have a problem. When the CEO of Wal Mart makes in an hour the same as the workers make in a year, you have a problem. Why do I say you have a problem? Because those who make the millions do not pay the same tax rates as the ones who don’t, which creates a deficit at the end of the day. In other words, if you want to argue that those who exploit the poor to get rich shouldn’t pay what they used to in taxes, why don’t you join the military, for that is the only entity that can guarantee employment, all others having being depleted by the lack of consumers and finances.
Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 9th, 2011 at 11:18 pm
Not only that, the greater amount of money going to a smaller group of people sucks millions out of the economy that could have been spent by the middle class to perpetuate more jobs
Sandy Button
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 1:06 am
I don’t know why David Plouffe even wasted his time with this bone head, you could see it in his face he was wondering the same thing.