Issues: Small Business

Americans For Prosperity: “Washington-Style Reform”

adcheck •

Americans for Prosperity hits Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) for supporting the Affordable Care Act, repeating multiple falsehoods in the process. The ad claims that the health care law ‘costs too much,’ but it actually reduces the deficit. AFP complains that the ACA “took over $700 billion from Medicare, which was already going bankrupt,” but without those savings Medicare would become insolvent sooner. Furthermore, the ad misleads on the ACA’s taxes and falsely claims that “bureaucrats” will “make health care decisions for you” under the law.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Channel”

adcheck •

An ad from Crossroads GPS hits Sen. Sherrod Brown with a series of misleading insinuations, suggesting that Brown approved of a “health care takeover” and job-killing taxes on Ohio businesses. But the health care law relies on the private sector, and neither it nor Brown’s most recent vote for the Middle Class Tax Relief Act raise taxes for most Americans. What’s more, the Recovery Act didn’t ‘fail – it helped keep the recession that killed millions of jobs from being even worse.

Read more after the jump.

Americans for Prosperity: “Smarter Spending Not Higher Taxes”

adcheck •

Using familiar distortions of Senate candidate Tim Kaine’s tenure as governor of Virginia, Americans for Prosperity falsely claims that Kaine left Virginia with a $4.2 billion deficit. In reality, Kaine cut billions to balance every budget during his term, despite revenue shortfalls caused by the recession. AFP’s accusations about tax hikes are also out of context; Kaine’s proposals sought to fund much-needed transportation upgrades, which the GOP wanted to pay for with more long-term borrowing. And although Kaine never voted on the Affordable Care Act, AFP’s claim that the law is a “huge tax” leaves out the fact that most Americans won’t see a tax increase from the health care law, which also provides tax credits for millions.

Read more after the jump.

National Federation Of Independent Businesses: “Government Regulations Hinder My Business”

adcheck •

An ad from the National Federation of Independent Business follows Florida business owner Dean Mixon around as he blames government for hindering his businesses’ growth, then calls on Florida Sen. Bill Nelson to “start supporting Florida’s small businesses, not Washington bureaucrats.” In the process, NFIB flashes a series of “facts” on screen to give the impression that regulations are doing significant harm to the economy. Whatever Mixon’s personal experience has been with regulations, business owners and economists generally blame a lack of demand, not the current regulatory environment, for holding back growth.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Doing”

adcheck •

Even though Ohio’s unemployment rate has fallen for 11 straight months, dropping more than 3 percentage points from its recession-driven high, Crossroads GPS suggests that the state’s economy is getting worse and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is responsible. To support its case, the conservative group distorts the facts about two policies Brown supports – health care reform and ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans – and attacks him for supposedly backing an energy bill he ultimately opposed out of concern for Ohio jobs.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Cost You”

adcheck •

Crossroads GPS starts its latest attack on Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) by asking why the debt has increased since Jon Tester took office, and then provides all the wrong answers. Contrary to the ad’s claims, Bush policies and the recession have driven the increase in debt since Tester took office, and the Affordable Care Act actually reduces deficits. Crossroads also misrepresents Tester’s vote to extend middle-class tax cuts as a ‘tax hike’ on small businesses.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Hiding Taxes”/”Pay Raises”

adcheck •

A reissued ad from Crossroads GPS abandons the plainly false claim that former Heidi Heitkamp “spent taxpayer dollars on private planes” as North Dakota’s Attorney General, replacing it with the equally disingenuous phrase “allowed staff to fly a taxpayer-funded plane.” But the very article cited in the ad explains that the planes were used for drug enforcement – not the stylish travel GPS implies even after admitting the initial lie about Heitkamp spending money on the aircraft. In addition, the ad misleads on pay raises given underpaid attorneys in Heitkamp’s office, positions she took on car insurance and coal taxes in the ’90s, and her 2012 position on taxes.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Sense”

adcheck •

Crossroads GPS uses Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s vote in favor of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act to accuse him of supporting tax hikes on Montana families and small businesses. In reality, Tester’s vote supported an extension of the Bush tax cuts for all income up to $200,000. Those earning more than that – approximately the top 1.4 percent of households – are, contrary to Crossroads’ suggestion, very rarely actual small businesses. Crossroads’ other evidence for Tester’s supposed habit of hiking taxes is the health care law, which won’t increase taxes for the majority of Americans.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “People Over Government”

adcheck •

Crossroads GPS is attacking Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) over taxes, attempting to cast her support for ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans as a determination to increase taxes on small businesses. But what McCaskill has actually “voted repeatedly” to do is to cut everyone’s taxes on their first $200,000 of income, and to revert to Clinton-era rates on the 1.4 percent of Americans who earn enough to benefit from the top-end Bush tax cuts. In addition to the standard conservative conflation of rich people and small businesses, the GPS ad misleads about the tax impact of health care reform, and implies that it’s McCaskill, and not a massive global economic crisis, that’s hurt Missouri’s manufacturers.

Read more after the jump.

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “Tammy Baldwin – Failure”

adcheck •

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce accuses Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin of ‘making it worse’ for Wisconsin families by voting for the Dodd-Frank wall street reform bill and for health care reform, making false accusations about the legislation in the process. For instance, Dodd-Frank regulations target large firms in order to help prevent another financial sector meltdown — not, as the ad claims, small businesses. And the claim that Affordable Care Act — which won’t raise taxes for most Americans – is a job-killer has been debunked.

Read more after the jump.