Republican debaters’ claims deserve closer scrutiny

AP FACT CHECK

Republican debaters’ claims deserve closer scrutiny

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a look at political claims that take shortcuts with the facts or don’t tell the full story

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Ben Carson pitched a tax plan with numbers that didn’t add up. Donald Trump boasted that he’s paying his own way in the campaign, but he isn’t. Chris Christie accused the government of stealing Social Security money that it has actually borrowed — and has been paying back with interest.

Even the price of hamburger got a bad rap in the latest Republican presidential debate, thanks to Ted Cruz.

A look at some of the claims Wednesday night and how they compare with the facts: CARSON: His proposed flat-rate tax, which would have everyone pay an income tax rate of about 15 percent, “works out very well” in budget terms because it would spark enough economic growth to offset the lower rate.

THE FACTS: Carson says his proposed tax would not increase the budget deficit because he would tax the entire economic output of the U.S. — the gross domestic product — plus corporate income and capital gains.

Carson has not laid out a detailed plan, so it is difficult to measure how it would affect revenues or the economy. But based on what he said, he’s double counting because corporate revenues are part of the GDP.

A tax rate of 15 percent would be a huge tax cut for the wealthy. The top income tax rate for individuals is now 39.6 percent. The corporate tax rate for corporations is 35 percent.

To help offset the rate cuts, Carson said he would “get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes.” That’s a bold proposal, considering how popular many tax breaks are, including deductions for interest on home mortgages and charitable contributions, as well as exemptions for health insurance and retirement savings.

TRUMP: “I’m putting up 100 percent of my own money.”

THE FACTS: No, he’s not.

Of $3.9 million raised for his campaign in the latest fundraising quarter, only $100,000 came from his own pocket. That was one major revelation from the latest batch of presidential fundraising reports, filed Oct. 15 with the Federal Election Commission.

That’s a drastic shift from his springtime fundraising report, when he loaned his campaign nearly all of the $1.9 million it had.

CHRISTIE: The federal government has “stolen” the Social Security taxes paid by workers and spent it on other things. “It isn’t their money any more… It got stolen from them. It’s not theirs anymore. The government stole it and spent it a long time ago.”

THE FACTS: The money is not stolen, it’s borrowed.

Over the past 30 years, Social Security has collected about $2.7 trillion more in payroll taxes than it has paid in benefits. By law, the Treasury Department has invested the surplus in U.S. Treasury bonds.

Over that same time period, the federal government has run budget deficits in all but a few years. To finance the deficits, the government has borrowed money, from other government agencies as well as public debt markets.

The money from Social Security has been spent, but Social Security holds Treasury bonds worth $2.7 trillion, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Saying the money has been stolen assumes that the federal government will not honor the bonds.

Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes since 2010. The program has been able to pay full benefits because the federal government has honored the bonds.

SEN. TED CRUZ: “If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems.”

THE FACTS: Americans may be facing many economic challenges, but rising inflation isn’t one of them. And “loose money,” a way of describing the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policies, isn’t to blame for expensive hamburgers.

Beef prices rose 21 percent in January of this year compared with a year earlier. That reflected a Midwest drought that had caused some cattle ranchers to cull their herds. Beef prices have since settled down and were up just 1 percent in September from a year earlier.

Electricity costs have actually fallen 0.4 percent during that period. Those are national averages, so some local areas will have different figures. Overall, inflation has remained below even the Fed’s 2 percent target for the past three years. In fact, the government’s primary inflation measure, the consumer price index, has actually been unchanged in the past 12 months.

TRUMP: Asked about his criticism of Sen. Marco Rubio for his support for increasing the number of high-skilled foreign workers given visas to work in the U.S. — calling Rubio Facebook CEO “Mark Zuckerburg’s personal senator” — Trump denied ever making the comment. “I never said that. I never said that,” he said.

THE FACTS: He did say it, on his own website.

By Christopher S. Rugaber and Stephen Ohlemacher