Fooled by Fool’s Gold: WSJ repeats G.I. $400 myth

by David Safier

Yes, I know it's expecting too much, but wouldn't you think an editorial in the Wall Street Journal should be somewhere near factual, and if it can't manage that, it should at least show mastery of 6th grade math skills?

But when you're getting your pabulum spoon fed to you by the Goldwater Institute, I guess that's too much to ask.

In an editorial today, WSJ starts with the myth that the Arizona sales tax hike will cost the average family $400 a year and takes it one step further (WSJ is password protected, so I'm working from an excerpt):

The average Arizona family will pay $400 a year more if the sales tax increase prevails, which is a lot when you consider that President Obama's "making work pay" tax credit is limited to $400 for individuals.

Amazing. Take a trumped up average figure of $400, then assume that's what someone will pay if they're in the bottom half of the group.

But wait, there's more.

Check out the math here. See if you can get "more than 100%" from $6.6 billion increasing to $10 billion.

Arizona got into this crisis because during the boom years—2003 to 2007—then-Governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, and Republicans in the legislature let spending climb by more than 100% to $10 billion from $6.6 billion.

Um, doesn't the top number need to be over $13.2 billion to be a "more than 100%" increase of $6.6 billion?

(h/t to commenter Ed Beighe for the catch.)