Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Dave Camp Needs a Fact Checker

(h/t Wonk Room)

Dave Camp (MI-R) should get his facts straight before opening his mouth on national television. He appeared on CNBC yesterday to discuss the House Democrats health care legislation that proposes a surtax on wealthy individuals in order to finance a portion of the $1.5 trillion cost of health reform. The surtax rates would be 5.4 percent for couples earning more than $1 million, 1.5 percent on couples with incomes between $500,000 and $1 million, and 1 percent on incomes over $350,000. ($280,000 a year for individuals.)

When asked about the surtax, this is what Camp said:
This is going to be a massive tax increase, half of which will be paid by small business. We expect that as many as 2 out of 3 manufacturers could pay significantly higher taxes under this.
Camp is so wildly off the mark he makes Sarah Palin look like a genius. According to the Wonk Room's Igor Volsky, "the overwhelming majority of small business owners earn far less than $350,000, and thus will not be affected by the tax. Of people who earn most of their income from their own business, 98 percent make less than $250,000, while “more than half have income below $30,000 and 80 percent make less than $100,000.”

That's a far cry from the figures used by Camp. Citizens for Tax Justice also ran the numbers and found that about 5 percent of actual small businesses would be affected by the surtax.

And what percent of Michigan taxpayers did CTJ find would pay a graduated surcharge? 0.7%

And before Dave Camp jumps in to defend those 0.7%, here's another fact from CTJ: "Under this proposal, the richest 1.3 percent of U.S. taxpayers would have an estimated total tax increase of $550 billion over ten years, which is considerably less than the total tax cuts this group received over the 2001-2010 period."

The millions of uninsured people in this country deserve better than wild exaggerations from politicians like Dave Camp. They deserve health care.


(Cross-posted at Blogging for Michigan.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave Camp is a slimy crap weasel. Do you notice he loves all the fear mongering buzz phrases. I guess he doesn't realize that most of us don't buy that nonsense anymore. We need to keep the pressure on him to actually represent his constituents and do the right thing. I don't think it's possible for such a crap weasel, but ya never know.

K. said...

Hello from Ireland!

These guys say whatever will get them on Fox and an approving nod from Rush Limbaugh. The facts are beside the point to them. Frank Rich it right: Conservatism is a grab for ratings from its echo chamber, not a movement (other than an bowel movement, that is).

Kathy said...

K, you're in Ireland again?! Want to trade places with me? Michigan has been rainy and cool this summer and feels a bit like Ireland.

Funny comment about the conservative "movement." Thanks. I needed a good laugh.

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