Anti-tax zealots are divorced from reality

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On April 15th, "Tax Day," we were again treated to the spectacle of teabaggers protesting taxes — despite the fact that 95% of Americans received a tax cut courtesy of President Obama. Federal income taxes are the lowest they have been in decades.

Now with Prop. 100, the temporary one-cent sales tax increase coming up for a vote in the special election on May 18th, we are once again treated to the spectacle of John Kromko, Mary Schuh, and Mary Terry Schiltz of the Pima Association of Taxpayers posting signs around town that say "Taxed to the max! Vote No on Prop. 100." It appears they recycled the signs they used during the Tucson City Election to oppose all tax matters, leading to the defeat of school district budget override measures last November.

"Taxed to the Max!" A catchy bumper-sticker slogan, but completely divorced from reality and entirely false. Data: 2009 tax bills fall to lowest point since '50s:

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA Today analysis of federal data found.

While government spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

Federal, state and local taxes, including income, property, sales and other taxes, consumed 9.2 percent of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12 percent for the past half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8 percent of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.

Individual tax rates vary widely based on how much a taxpayer earns, where the person lives and other factors. On average, though, the tax rate paid by all Americans – rich and poor, combined – has fallen 26 percent since the recession began in 2007. That means a $3,400 annual tax savings for a household paying the average national rate and earning the average national household income of $102,000.

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Taxes have fallen much faster than income in this recession. Personal income fell 2 percent last year. Taxes paid dropped 23 percent.

The media villagers and Beltway bloviators have entirely failed the American public. The media permit the talking heads from billionaire-funded organizations like Americans for Prosperity, whose mission statement is opposition to paying taxes, to spew their nonsense with little or no fact checking. Much of the "data" these organizations present is manufactured and always manipulated to be misleading.

The media also permit the corporate-sponsored Astroturf K Street lobbyist front groups for the so-called Tea Party movement, e.g., FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, to spew their nonsense with little or no fact checking. These lobbyist groups front for the Republican Party as well, whose First Commandment is "no taxes." It is ideological dogma.

The media villagers and Beltway bloviators prefer to report "he said… she said" conflicting "opinions" in the contrived interest of being "fair and balanced," rather than reporting actual facts and reality. "Conflict" is now an "infotainment" model for selling advertising. And in the case of the conservative media echo chamber, it is blatant political propaganda (unlawful under federal law, but never prosecuted).

When these "we're excessively taxed" arguments are made, divorced from reality and entirely false, it is the duty and obligation of the "fourth estate" to call out the charlatans speaking this nonsense for the liars they are. It is the media's obligation to inform the public with facts and reality to permit the public to make an informed decision on public policy. The media's "conflict" infotainment model for selling advertising is dumbing down the American public by reducing black and white factual arguments based upon reality to shades of gray "opinion" in the contrived interest of being "fair and balanced."

As Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts." Or as Sergeant Friday used to say, "just the facts, Ma'am." Let's get back to reality.