Issues: Taxes

Crossroads GPS: “Silly Spending” NY-01

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Crossroads GPS hits Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) over his support for the Recovery Act, suggesting Bishop voted for a series of wasteful projects while New York lost jobs. But the Recovery Act helped keep the recession from becoming even more severe, and the outlandish things Crossroads claims Bishop supported are seriously misrepresented. Meanwhile, New York and the country as a whole have been gaining jobs since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Silly Spending” NY-25

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Crossroads GPS hits Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) over her support for the Recovery Act, suggesting Slaughter voted for a series of wasteful projects while New York lost jobs. But the Recovery Act helped keep the recession from becoming even more severe, and the outlandish things Crossroads claims Slaughter supported are seriously misrepresented. Meanwhile, New York and the country as a whole have been gaining jobs since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Silly Spending” IA-03

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Crossroads GPS hits Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA) over his support for the Recovery Act, suggesting Boswell voted for a series of wasteful projects while Iowa lost jobs. But the Recovery Act helped keep the recession from becoming even more severe, and the outlandish things Crossroads claims Boswell supported are seriously misrepresented. Meanwhile, Iowa and the country as a whole have been gaining jobs since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Read more after the jump.

The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

Including a stray late-Friday-afternoon spot that didn’t make it into our roundup from last week, Bridge Project fact-checked 10 conservative ads this week. Eight of those were from the usual players – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which focused on House races, Crossroads GPS, which took on its usual Senate targets, and American Crossroads, with a presidential ad. The remaining two came from the National Rifle Association and American Unity PAC, more minor players on the electioneering ad scene.

Rhetorically, this week saw a heavy focus on supposed threats to small business jobs, with six of the ads mentioning small businesses specifically. But most of the conservative claims about “small business” rely on distortions – for example, the conservative definition of a small business often includes large corporations and wealthy individuals rather than the mom-and-pop businesses the term conjures for most people. And the health care law, often cited as a source of crippling new taxes on small business, actually offers tax credits that will help those small businesses provide their employees with health insurance.

Read more after the jump.

American Crossroads: “Four More”

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American Crossroads looks forward in its latest ad, warning viewers that President Obama’s second-term plans will bring tax hikes on small businesses, job losses, and higher debt. In reality, Obama wants to extend tax cuts for the middle class while phasing out tax breaks on income above $250,000. That would reduce deficits without harming job creation, and the flawed study that American Crossroads cites to claim otherwise does not actually address Obama’s proposal. Meanwhile, the ad also claims that Obama has “nothing to show” for his first term, ignoring the economic disaster he inherited and the 4.7 million new private-sector jobs created over the last 31 months of growth.

Read more after the jump.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “Cheri Bustos”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks Illinois congressional candidate Cheri Bustos (D), claiming that her support for the Affordable Care Act disregard’s “job-killing tax hikes on small businesses” and higher taxes on middle-class families. But the claim that the law will kill jobs has been debunked, and it contains tax credits for both small businesses and lower- and middle-class families.

Read more after the jump.

NRA Political Victory Fund: “Chipping Away”

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In an ad that provides no details or citations, the National Rifle Association claims an unspecified “they” are “attacking our Second Amendment rights” before urging voters to support the Romney/Ryan ticket. But despite conservative fears, the only gun laws President Obama has signed expand – rather than restrict – gun rights. The ad’s other claims about “mountains of debt” and “new spending” are also misleading, since it was Bush-era policies and the recession that drove up the debt and spending growth under Obama has been low.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Vision”

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In an ad accusing Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) of casting votes that ‘cost Ohio jobs,’ Crossroads GPS misrepresents the American Jobs Act, the Affordable Care Act, and Brown’s vote to end the Bush tax cuts for top earners. The American Jobs Act would have boosted employment and GDP while cutting payroll taxes for workers and employers, paid for with a surtax only on millionaires, but all the ad says is that it’s a “tax increase.” To help pay for expanding coverage, the Affordable Care Act levies a small tax on medical device manufacturers, who are likely to see increased business thanks to the law. And the “new small business tax” is no such thing: Brown voted to preserve tax breaks for the middle class while ending them for top earners, few of whom are real “small businesses.”

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Stamp For Him”

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Crossroads GPS’ attempt to portray Heidi Heitkamp as “an Obama rubber stamp” wildly misreprents the health care law’s budget impact and Heitkamp’s position on the individual mandate. In reality, the Affordable Care Act reduces deficits, and Heitkamp has repeatedly stated that she would prefer the law without the individual mandate.

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Crossroads GPS: “Looming”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS attacks Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D) over his support for last year’s deal to raise the debt ceiling, which created the deficit reduction super committee and imposed defense cuts as an incentive for members to find a compromise. The super committee failed, and GPS blames Kaine for upcoming defense cuts, which could impact Virginia-based defense industry jobs particularly hard. But Kaine supported the debt ceiling deal because it was necessary to avoid devastating economic default, and he has laid out a plan to avoid the impending defense cuts.

Read more after the jump.