I don’t know about you, but I routinely read “The Fact Checker” by Glenn Kessler.  He is normally a pretty good read- and to be honest, I don’t read it to determine how many Pinocchio’s he decides to award, but for the explanation as to why a statement is accurate or not.  This past issue (at least when I was incensed enough to write this post) was way below his normal competency… No, it was totally unacceptable.

Don’t get me wrong.  Representative Jeffries was playing a little fast and loose in his claim- but I am positive that Kessler’s analysis of same was abysmal.

Here’s Hakeem Jeffries’ quote:  “Reconciliation is an exception to the filibuster. Republicans used it in 2017 to pass the GOP tax scam, where 83 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent and they saddled us with approximately $2 trillion in debt to subsidize the lifestyle of the rich and shameless.”

Kessler was investigating the concept that 83% of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1%.  So you know, I doubt the veracity of this statement, too.  Because the Tax Cut and Jobs Act [TCJA] (sic) wasn’t totally aimed at coddling the 1%; the benefits accrued to the crony capitalists of big business.  And, while I haven’t done a total analysis, I could stand behind 83% benefiting corporate America and the top 1%- in total, not each.

Instead of analyzing that issue, Kessler elected to sound erudite while obfuscating the issues and blustering his readers.  NOT the sort of journalism that wins even a D in my book.

Kessler does note that the TCJA is a 10 year tax cut and, if one were to jump to the 2027 tax tables (in this case produced by the non-partisan and estimable Tax Policy Century), one could state that 82.8% of the tax cuts will flow to the top 1 percent by that table. (The tax tables note that the lower 75% of the income echelons will actually have their taxes INCREASED by the TCJA, accruing 107.3% of the tax reductions to the top 25% of earners.)

And, then Kessler goes on…

“The top 1 percent in 2018 earned nearly 21 percent of adjusted gross income and paid more than 40 percent of federal taxes.”   Hmm.  You gotta love it when aggregate numbers are used- because that lets one cloak the real facts.  But, if you have an agenda that the rich overpay taxes, this sound really cool.  21% of the AGI and twice that percentage for federal taxes….

What the facts state is that these folks are making millions of dollars ($ 2KK, to be exact).  And, while they theoretically should be paying close to 40% of that income in taxes (according to the TCJA), their tax rate was about 26.87%.  So, what that means is that most of these folks earned income from the stock market (where capital gains are taxed at much lower rates than the marginal rates).  That’s why there’s the difference between 40% and 26.87%.  (It also doesn’t account for the fact that many of these folks earn income from pass-through entities, where 20% of the profits are specifically exempt from taxes.)

And, it gets better (or is that worse).  Kessler avers that income tax collections fell by $ 80 billion from 2017 to 2019.  Except…as you can see from the chart above, the personal income tax receipts increased by 8% or $ 131 billion dollars.  Even accounting for the $ 67 billion drop in corporate collections, total income tax collections still increased.

Finally, as I’ve often said, the middle class and, especially, the poor pay a fair percentage of their income to the payroll taxes, while those in the top echelons earn most of their income outside of salaries, so their payroll taxes are low.  That holds besides the fact that the payroll tax has an upper limit for assessments that stops well into the middle class range.   Which is why the poor and the middle class pay much higher percentages of their income to the Federal government than do the rich- and that’s before one considers the vast cornucopia of tax dodges that are available to the rich (since salary is NOT a major component of their income).

So, when we get down to it, Representative Hakim exaggerated- he should have stated by 2027, 83% of the benefits accrue to the top 1%.  But, Kessler- he should simply have pointed out that fact and not earned himself four Pinocchios.

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