News Reporter: Fact Checker: Kamala Harris gets Four Pinocchios

Friday 15 February 2019

Fact Checker: Kamala Harris gets Four Pinocchios

Democracy Dies in Darkness

The truth behind the rhetoric

Kamala Harris gets Four Pinocchios

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) tweeted two facts. Tax refunds are smaller this year, according to preliminary IRS data, and President Trump's tax cuts from 2017 are projected to raise rates on the middle class in the long run.

Except, she left out the "long run" part. And things went off the rails before Harris, who is running for president, finished her tweet. She implied the smaller refunds this year were a sign that taxes are rising for the middle class now. Harris went from noting the lower tax refund to declaring: "Let's call the President's tax cut what it is: a middle-class tax hike to line the pockets of already wealthy corporations and the 1%."

Here's the rub: When the size of your tax refund changes from year to year, that doesn't mean your tax liability went up or down. Also, it's worth noting that any broad-based tax cut is going to mostly benefit the wealthy because they already pay a large share of income taxes. According to Treasury Department data, the top 20 percent of income earners paid 95.2 percent of individual income taxes in 2017. We awarded Four Pinocchios to Harris.

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What's actually in the Green New Deal from Democrats?

You may have heard claims that the Green New Deal would eliminate air travel or ban cows from passing gas. Or that it would outlaw gasoline or eradicate the U.S. military.

You may have heard these claims from Trump, the Republican National Committee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign, House GOP conference chair Liz Cheney, Fox News or elsewhere.

You may be wondering what's actually in the Green New Deal resolution in Congress. It's sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and has wide support among Democratic presidential contenders.

You may be interested to know the resolution doesn't even mention cow emissions or air travel, let alone eliminate them. It does have hugely ambitious goals such as guaranteeing jobs and health care for everyone and meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable or zero-emission energy sources.

If so, please check out our explainer on the Green New Deal and this Three Pinocchio fact-check of Cheney's claim.

We're always looking for fact-check suggestions.

You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @rizzoTK or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup.

— Salvador Rizzo

Trump's false claim that violent crime hasn't gone down 'in a long while'

The violent crime rate and murder rate have been going down fairly steadily since 1991.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

Kamala Harris leaps to unwarranted conclusions in tax tweet

The Democratic senator and presidential candidate says a decline in the size of tax refunds shows the Trump tax plan is a middle-class tax hike. The data shows otherwise.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

Liz Cheney's claim that the 'Green New Deal' would eliminate air travel

Death panels, but for deciding who gets to board a flight? Nope.

By Salvador Rizzo • Read more »

Does a full-time U.S. worker at McDonald's make just $7,000?

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) claimed the typical worker at McDonald's made well below the minimum wage. But a full-time worker in the United States actually makes about $20,000.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

What's actually in the 'Green New Deal' from Democrats?

No one is proposing to "eliminate all planes, cars, cows, oil, gas and the military." No one created "doctored" versions of the Green New Deal that included these outlandish proposals.

By Salvador Rizzo • Read more »