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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Is Obama Going to Tax Drivers?

Q: Does President Barack Obama support taxing motorists based on the number of miles they drive?
A: No. But it is one idea being studied as a way to replace the federal gasoline tax.

Fun with Deficit Statistics

Q: Is it true that this year’s deficit is greater than the total taxable income of Americans earning more than $100,000?
A: No, it’s not true. The statistic comes from a Wall Street Journal editorial, which has been corrected.

FactChecking Obama’s Budget Speech

President Barack Obama misrepresented the House Republicans’ budget plan at times and exaggerated its impact on U.S. residents during an April 13 speech on deficit reduction. Obama claimed …

Obama’s Tax Tale

During a Super Bowl XLV pregame interview with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, President Barack Obama claimed that he "didn’t raise taxes once" during his first two years in office. Cigarette smokers and fans of indoor tanning may be among those to disagree with that statement.

O’Reilly, Feb. 6: Do you deny the assessment? Do you deny that you are a man who wants to redistribute wealth.
Obama: Absolutely.
O’Reilly: You deny that?
Obama: Absolutely. I didn’t raise taxes once,

Sunday Replay

Surprisingly – considering that the topic du jour was taxes, which means numbers – the flubs and fibs on the Dec. 12 talk shows were few, and relatively minor.
Not So Out-of-Context
On "Meet the Press," the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, claimed host David Gregory had taken a quote by White House economic adviser Larry Summers "a little out of context." Not so. Goolsbee and Gregory were discussing the tax deal President Barack Obama had worked out with congressional Republicans.

Whoppers of Campaign 2010

Midterm elections are an embarrassment of riches for fact-checkers — this year more than others. With Democrats fighting desperately to keep control of the House and Senate, and a torrent of money from corporations and other undisclosed …

Tall Tax Tales

Republican Sharron Angle says in a TV ad that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid “voted to raise taxes” 300 times. A “staggering 300 times.” He didn’t. We reviewed the 304 votes provided by the Angle campaign and found its final tally was padded …

Sales Tax Spin

Democrats are running misleading ads in several House and Senate races accusing Republicans of supporting a “23 percent national sales tax.” The ads fail to mention that the proposed tax — while controversial — is designed to replace all federal income …

FactChecking ‘The Pledge’

The Republican “Pledge to America,” released Sept. 23, contains some dubious factual claims. It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. . . .

Jerry Brown and California Taxes

A story I reported 18 years ago for CNN has recently become an issue in the California governor’s race. Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate,