WSAV Exposes Barrow, DCCC Lies
Most voters know that the “Max Tax” commercials being run by Athens trial lawyer John Barrow and the DCCC present a distorted and misleading version of the Fair Tax, and a misappropriated link between Max Burns and the Fair Tax itself, but WSAV 3 in Savannah put the advertisements to the “truth test” and found that Johnnie Athens has been lying to voters.
In a segment that aired on Channel 3’s 6 pm and 10 pm news, WSAV’s Paul Ray did a great job of exposing the depth to which Barrow and the DCCC have lied in these commercials.
“As the Truth Test found the ads present the sales tax as an increase when it is designed to replace all income and other payroll taxes. Another misleading element is referencing the tax as new, it’s been around for years and while support is growing the “new” tax is going nowhere fast.”
And these ads are essentially the hub of Barrow’s campaign. With no record to run on, and a great deal of mistakes to hide, Barrow can do little more than lie. He lied to voters about the tax itself, but he has also distorted Max Burns’ support of the tax. Larry Peterson of the Savannah Morning News recently wrote:
“At a forum with Barrow last week, [Burns] said he still thinks it’s ‘a good idea,’ but he suggested it could use some tweaks. ‘There are some things we can take from it and make it better,’ [Burns] said.” (emphasis added)
Even more outrageous is the notion that Barrow has gone so far off the deep end in lying to voters, that he is claiming that he is aligned with President Bush. At the end of one of the ads he says “I’m John Barrow and I approve this message because I agree with George Bush on this one.” But that could not be further from the truth.
“The fact is President Bush said ’send Max Burns back to the U.S. Congress,’” said Tim Baker, Burns’ campaign manager. “It’s Barrow trying to run from his true colors and his party.” (emphasis added)
Johnnie Athens lying to conceal his record? Sounds familiar. But WSAV saved the most damning evidence for last:
“One of Barrow’s ads claims, ‘President Bush’s commission on tax reform said Max Burns’ national sales tax would raise taxes on 75% of all Americans.’ Then the candidate intones, ‘I’m John Barrow and I approved this message because I agree with George Bush on this one.’ WSAV has confirmed the council looked at a national sales tax plan, but they did not look at the specific plan Burns and others support meaning this part of the Barrow ad is untrue.” (emphasis added)
The bottom line is that Barrow’s a liar. It’s not quite libel, but it’s close. Whatever the case, in the words of Ricky Ricardo/Dezi Arnaz, “Johnnie, you have a lot of ’splainin’ to do.”
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“WSAV has confirmed the council looked at a national sales tax plan, but they did not look at the specific plan Burns and others support meaning this part of the Barrow ad is untrue.”
Perhaps WSAV should take another look at the FINAL REPORT of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON TAC REFORM, chapter 9, which states:
The Panel initially evaluated the federal retail sales tax using the broad tax base described by advocates of the “FairTax” retail sales tax proposal. …. The long-term likelihood of maintaining this broad tax base is addressed later in this chapter…..
the Treasury Department calculated that the tax rate required to replace the federal income tax with a retail sales tax would be 22 percent on a tax-exclusive basis. This tax rate, however, does not include a program designed to ease the burden of the tax on lower-income Americans. Moreover, unless the states repealed their existing sales taxes, most consumers would pay both federal and state sales tax on many goods. The weighted average state and local sales tax rate is approximately 6.5 percent on a tax-exclusive basis. Thus, for sales subject to both federal retail sales tax and state and local sales taxes, the weighted average combined tax-exclusive sales tax rate would be approximately 28.5 percent.
Sooooooooooooooooo since Burns endorses the “FAIR” tax and the POTUS commission evaluated the “FAIR” tax, it would appear not only that Barrow is correct that President Bush agreed with HIM, but that Barrow is giving Burns the benefit of the doubt by using the 23% rate currently in the bill. (Even bill sponsors have admitted that the rate will have to go to 26%, so 28.5% seems about right.)
WSAV is the one in error.