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| More On That False Quote in the Obama TV Ad |
| 2008-05-07 |
| As we recently fact-checked, Sen. Barack Obama has been running a TV ad that falsely uses a quote from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman about Sen. John McCain's gas tax holiday plan and applies it to Sen. Hillary Clinton's plan. Last night Krugman blogged on the matter. "I did not say that the Clinton proposal would increase oil industry profits," Krugman writes. "If the ad implies that I did, it should be retracted. The Clinton proposal is financed by an excess profits tax. At worst, it sends money in a circle. In practice, it would probably reduce oil industry profits at least slightly, since the rise in the pre-tax price of gasoline probably wouldnÂ’t wipe out all of the tax cut. I was very clear when I wrote about the Clinton proposal that while I didnÂ’t think it was good policy, it was not the same as McCainÂ’s, and relatively harmless. If the Obama people are suggesting otherwise, theyÂ’re being deliberately dishonest." Meanwhile, Obama has launched another TV ad that uses a quote from Clinton-supporting North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley to bash the gas tax holiday idea. In 2006, Easley opposed cutting the state gas tax, based on oil industry officials telling Tarheel State lawmakers months that such a cut would not cause an equal drop in price. Easley said cutting the gas tax would be "a subsidy for the oil companies." A permanent cut in the state gas tax is of course not quite the same thing as a federal gas tax holiday, though economists would argue some of the same principles would apply -- that is, the law of supply and demand would mean that oil companies would raise the price regardless. (Especially if Sen. Clinton's "windfall profits tax" were also to become law and the oil companies passed on their new debt to the consumer.) |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Big companies don't pay taxes, CONSUMERS pay taxes. The notion of American industry, for some reason commonly seen as the common enemy, paying taxes is one of the oldest lies told by politicians of both parties. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-05-07 05:44 |