ANOTHER LIE: Democrats Falsely Claim GOP Tax Reform Plan Would Increase Taxes For Working Families

You just knew that sooner or later Democrats would find a way to lie about the Republican tax reform plan.

Vote for sooner.

As The Washington Post points out, giving the Democrats’ lie a whopping Four Pinocchios, some Senate Democrats claimed on Twitter that the tax reform plan would penalize middle class families making less than $86,000 a year, as they would face an average tax increase.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) tweeted on October 27, “On average, middle class families earning less than $86,000 would see a tax increase under the Republican ‘tax reform’ plan.” She later deleted the tweet.

There were others:

The Post wondered where the false statistic originated, and traced the talking point to a document put out by the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, which the Post called “essentially the communications arm of Senate Democrats.”

That document, which dealt with the plan state-by-state, stated, “The average tax increase on families nationwide earning up to $86,100 would be $794, a significant burden for middle-class families.” The Post traced that statistic to a report from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, which read:

If enacted, the Republican tax reform proposal would saddle 8 million households that earn up to $86,100 with an average tax increase of $794—a substantial expense for working families.

So the Democrats twisted the original detail — that 8 million households would receive a $794 tax increase — into all working-class families getting a tax increase.

The Post asked Latoya Veal, spokeswoman for the JEC Democrats, to explain how the number was calculated. As the Post explained:

The staff took an estimate by the Tax Policy Center, based on the GOP’s ‘Unified Framework” released in September. The staff then focused on the households making under $86,100 – the bottom three quintiles of taxpayers — that would face a tax increase. Weighting the tax increase by the number of people in each quintile, the staff came up with an average tax hike of $794 for the people receiving a tax increase.

But notice the funny thing about this calculation: Only a small percentage (6.5%) of the nearly 122 million households in the bottom three quintiles will actually face a tax increase. Meanwhile, more than 97 million (80%) will receive a tax cut. Doing the math the same way the JEC staff did, we come up with an average tax cut of about $450 for those 97 million households.

The Post remarks succinctly, “Indeed, at the far end of the chart, you will see that every quintile on average receives a tax cut — not a tax increase. … The top quintile receives the biggest average tax cut, both in dollars and change in after-tax income — but also has the largest percentage (32.3%) of households who will face a tax increase.”

To show how truly cynical the Democrats are, although the updated report rectifies the error, it still refuses to acknowledge that most people would have a tax cut.