MauledAgain

One of the traits that erodes a person’s character, that erodes institutions, that erodes governments, and that erodes civilization is dishonesty. Dishonesty manifests itself in various ways. There is embezzlement. There is shoplifting. And there is lying.

People lie for various reasons. They lie to protect someone from being insulted, thus saying something nice about a terrible haircut. They lie to keep themselves out of trouble, thus denying having committed a crime. They lie to gain an advantage, thus offering untruths to push aside whatever or whomever stands in their way.

Sometimes lies are easily recognized. Sometimes they are difficult to detect. In any situation, it is best to procure evidence that what appears to be a lie is in fact a lie.

That’s the situation I found myself in when I received a political advertisement in the postal mail, circulated by an organization trying to unseat an incumbent United State Senator. The advertisement stated that the incumbent senator had “voted three time for higher taxes on seniors’ social security benefits.” Knowing that the last time taxes on social security benefits had been increased was long before the incumbent senator took a seat in the Senate, I wanted to verify that the statement was a lie.

First, I confirmed that taxes on social security benefits had not been raised since the 1990s. To do that, I examined the amendment notes to Internal Revenue Code section 86, which provides for the inclusion in gross income of a portion of some individuals’ social security benefits. Not everyone who receives social security benefits is required to include them in gross income because individuals with modified adjusted gross income less than specified amounts, depending on filing status, do not include social security benefits in gross income.

Section 86 has been amended three times since the incumbent senator took office. It was amended in 2017 by 13305(b)(1) of title I of Public Law 115-97. It was amended in 2020 by 104(b)(2)(C) of title I of division EE of Public Law 116-260. It was amended in 2021 by 9042(b)(2) of title IX of Public Law 117-2. All three amendments made changes to text in section 86 that cross-references other Internal Revenue Code provisions that were themselves amended. None of the three amendments did anything to change the portion of social security benefits included in gross income. None of the three amendments increased taxes on social security benefits.

Second, I looked to see if the incumbent senator had tried, unsuccessfully, to increase the portion of social security benefits included in gross income or to increase taxes on social security benefits. The organization that circulated the claim included a footnote in its advertisement citing three instances it offers in support of its claim. It cited three roll call votes in the Senate, specifically, “Roll Call Vote #28, 1/25/07; Roll Call Vote #52, 3/13/08; Roll Call Vote #43, 2/4/09.” What did those roll call votes address?

The first, Roll Call Vote #28, 1/25/07, was on a motion to waive an amendment to the Congressional Budget Act. The amendment would “repeal the 1993 income tax increase on Social Security benefits.” The motion failed. The incumbent senator voted against the motion.

The second, Roll Call Vote #52, 3/13/08, was on a motion to amend Senate Congressional Resolution 70. The amendment would “repeal the tax increase on Social Security benefits imposed by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.” The motion failed. The incumbent senator voted against the motion.

The third, Roll Call Vote #43, 2/4/09, was on a motion to waive section 201 of Senate Congressional Resolution 21. The amendment would “suspend for 2009 the 1993 income tax increase on Social Security benefits.” The motion failed. The incumbent senator voted against the motion.

None of the three roll call votes cited by the organization in support of its false claim that the incumbent senator voted “for higher taxes on seniors’ social security benefits” involved a motion to increase taxes on social security benefits. The votes cast by the incumbent senator were votes against reducing or suspending taxes on social security benefits. Voting against a tax decrease is NOT a vote for a tax increase. It is a vote to leave things as they are. Here is an analogous example that drives home the distinction: Someone involved with the NFL, wisely or unwisely, proposes reducing the points awarded for a touchdown from 6 to 5. An NFL owner who votes against that proposal is NOT voting to “increase” the points awarded for scoring a touchdown. It is a vote to leave things as they are.

So why would an organization circulate a lie? It does so to gain an advantage. The goal of the lie is to use fear to motivate senior citizens, and perhaps others nearing social security retirement age, to vote against the incumbent senator. Removing the incumbent senator from the Senate contributes to the organization’s chances of controlling the Senate and turning its spending from untruthful political advertisement to enacting its agenda.

So how does someone refute a lie? How does someone undo the damage done by a lie? These are not easy things to do. The first step is to identify the lie. The second step is to explain why the lie is a lie and not truth. The third step is to circulate the explanation to all those to whom the lie was circulated. I’ve done the first two steps. Taking the third step depends on how quickly, if at all, my identification of the lie and explanation of why it is a lie circulates. It is possible that the same or a similar lie is being circulated about other incumbent senators. Hopefully when someone uses a search engine to look for “voted for higher taxes on social security benefits” that person will find their way to this blog post. Hopefully they will share it. Hopefully, those in the organizations who circulate the lie will recant. But I doubt that will happen.

There’s a meme circulating on social media. Here is what it claims:

JUST ONE LITTLE EXAMPLE OF UNREALIZED CAPITAL GAIN:

....your mom purchased her home 40 years ago. She paid $50,000 for it. It's all paid off which is great because mom is living on a fixed income. It is now worth $500,000!! Kamala wants her to pay 25% of that gain even though she has no plans on selling her home. Now mom has to take out a $112,500 loan on the home to pay the Kamala's 25% unrealized capital gain. Mom can't afford that loan on her fixed income with rising inflation so she loses the home she raised her family in and worked so hard to pay off. But don't worry. A big corporation will come in and buy her home and rent it back to her.

They said you'll own nothing and be happy. Do you now see how they will accomplish that? Drain your savings and tax you out of your home!

Capital Gains will also apply to your 401 etc. DO A LOT OF THINKING BEFORE YOU VOTE

It is disappointing that this sort of nonsense gets a life of its own as it spreads from the originator – more on that in a moment – throughout the internet thanks to reposting by people who react emotionally and fail to take time to ask themselves whether it is correct.

The proposal in question is in the Biden Administration proposed budget for fiscal year 2025. The Tax Foundation summarizes the proposal very succinctly and clearly:

The 25 percent minimum tax on unrealized capital gains has several novel features and would for the first time attempt to collect tax on a broad set of assets on a mark-to-market basis or on imputed returns, i.e., without a clear market transaction to firmly establish any capital gain or loss. It would apply to taxpayers with wealth greater than $100 million, requiring a new annual wealth reporting system.

Whenever I see a facebook post in which someone reposts this meme, often along with an expression of fear or dismay that this proposal will ruin them financially, I note that even if the proposal were to be enacted, which I very much doubt, I don’t worry about it because I’m nowhere near worth $100 million. I then write in these or similar words, “And I assume you, also, don’t have wealth anywhere near $100 million, so, please, relax.” Reactions range from expressions of surprise to claims that I am ignorant about taxes.

Of course, my attempt to provide free education to the people who so easily gobble up nonsense reaches an extremely tiny fraction of the people who read this absurd meme, even if they don’t repost it. Perhaps here and there someone else who has taken the time to learn the truth about the proposal shares the results of their research efforts. But the vast majority of Americans are being fed what at best can be described as a lie.

So who created this meme? Someone who does not want to be identified. It’s very likely that the person who created this meme isn’t someone who read the proposal and misunderstood it. The explanations, such as the one from the Tax Foundation, are within the reading level of a second grader. The person who created this meme did so in order to influence the votes of the middle class, by fueling fear of something that doesn’t exist. I ask you, who benefits from a lie about a proposal that seeks to increase taxes on the ultrawealthy? Surely those who oppose increasing taxes on the ultrawealthy. What better way is there to get the middle class to oppose increased taxes on the ultrawealthy than to lie to the middle class and claim that the proposal increases taxes on the middle class?

If the American population were not so ignorant about basic tax concepts, if the American population were more willing to do research rather than to treat as Gospel truth the utterances of the guy next to them at the bar or the words of a meme writer who spreads lies, if the American population understood the realities of economics, this meme would be doing the damage of a spitball directed at an elm tree. Instead, this meme, along with hundreds of other disinformation memes and misrepresentation memes, is fertilized by ignorance and threatens to undercut the foundations of democracy. Sadly, the price of ignorance will be paid not only by the ignorant but by everyone other than the handful who benefit from ignorance and lies.