Kerry Did, In Fact, Vote Over 350 Times For Higher Taxes
KERRY DID, IN FACT, VOTE OVER 350 TIMES FOR HIGHER TAXES
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Michael Kinsley And Brooks Jackson Buy Kerry Spin,
But RNC Methodology Solid As A Rock
Washington Post’s Kinsley Says Shouldn’t Count Votes For Tax Increases. “Counting tax increases is an absurd way to measure a candidate’s general propensity on taxes.” (Michael Kinsley, Op-Ed, ‘Kerry’s ‘350 Tax Increases,’” The Washington Post, 3/24/04)
ü But Kinsley Contradicts Himself: “If What Matters To You Above All Else Is Paying Fewer Taxes, You’d Be A Fool To Choose Kerry Over Bush.” (Michael Kinsley, Op-Ed, ‘Kerry’s ‘350 Tax Increases,’” The Washington Post, 3/24/04)
Problem Is, Sen. John Kerry Has Voted For Higher Taxes 350 Times. This number includes votes for tax increases, but also includes many other votes against American taxpayers.
Each Vote On A Particular Piece Of Tax Legislation Is Counted. For example, Sen. John Kerry is on record four times against the President’s 2003 tax cut – twice against the non-binding budget resolution (Senate and Conference versions) and twice against the actual tax bill, H.R. 2.
ü Kerry Counts Votes On Budget Resolution – When It Suits Him. “Well saying it doesn’t make it so, George. Uh, and it’s just not so. Uh, also, uh, John Edwards I notice voted, uh, to give life to George Bush’s tax cut, because, uh, he voted for the first round of that tax cut. I did not. I always thought it was a pig in the poke. I thought it was a mistake.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 2/22/04; H. Con. Res. 83, CQ Vote #86: Adopted 65-35: R 50-0; D 15-35, 4/6/01, Edwards Voted Yea)
Kinsley Claims Votes Are Counted More Than Once, But He Apparently Was Surfing GOP.com And Got Lost—Kerry’s 350 Votes For Higher Taxes Is Not On RNC Website. “The documentation on the GOP Web site about Kerry’s supposed 350 votes to increase taxes lists only 67 votes ‘for higher taxes.’ Most of these are votes against a tax cut, not in favor of a tax increase. The 67 include nine votes listed twice, three listed three times, and two listed four times. The logic seems to be that if a bill contains more than one item (as almost all bills do), it counts as separate votes for or against each item.” (Michael Kinsley, Op-Ed, ‘Kerry’s ‘350 Tax Increases,’” The Washington Post, 3/24/04)
ü Kinsley Got His Documents Confused. Is Referring To Another RNC Document. A single vote against, for example, the 2001 tax cut is only counted once. It is not extrapolated out to mean 1) a vote against child tax credit; 2) a vote against marriage penalty relief; 3) a vote against death tax repeal, etc. The RNC may, for other purposes outside counting Sen. Kerry’s total number of votes for higher taxes, extrapolate these votes out. But again, it does not do so for the purposes of calculating Sen. Kerry’s 350 votes for higher taxes.
Kinsley Implies Some Votes Should Just Be “Forgotten.” “George the younger’s first item asserts that ‘In 1995, Kerry Voted For [a] Resolution That Said Middle Class Tax Cuts Were Not Wise.’ This turns out to be a vote in the midst of that nearly forgotten frenzy, the Gingrich revolution. It was a vote against a particular tax cut of $700 billion, on a resolution declaring with almost tautological justice that subtracting $700 billion from revenue would make it harder to balance the budget. The resolution passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate, but a decade later the Republican president uses it to tar his Democratic opponent.” (Michael Kinsley, Op-Ed, ‘Kerry’s ‘350 Tax Increases,’” The Washington Post, 3/24/04)
ü Sorry, Michael, Vote Was Clearly About The Merits Of Giving Middle Class Tax Cuts. The sense of the Senate amendment, killed on a motion by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), said “reducing the deficit should be one of the nation’s highest priorities, and that a middle-class tax cut would undermine and be inconsistent with the goal of achieving a balanced budget.” (H.J. Res. 1, CQ Vote #67: Motion Agreed To 66-32: R 49-3; D 17-29, 2/14/95, Kerry Voted Nay)
ü Vote Analysis Described The Motion This Way: “[U]nder No Circumstances Should Congress Give The Middle-Class Any Tax Break In The Next 7 Years.” (Senate Republican Policy Committee, “Balanced Budget Amendment/Statement Against Tax Cuts,” 2/14/95)
Jackson Asks “Higher Than What?” “None of these votes would have resulted in a tax increase, and most of the votes on the Bush lists are like that. Whether they would have resulted in ‘higher taxes’ depends: higher than what?” (Annenberg Political Fact Check Website, “Bush Accuses Kerry Of 350 Votes For ‘Higher Taxes’ Higher Than What?” www.factcheck.org, Accessed 3/24/04)
ü Well, Taxes Would Be Higher Than If Kerry Had Voted Other Way.
Jackson Says Numbers Are “Padded.” “On close examination, the Bush campaign’s list of Kerry’s votes for ‘higher taxes’ is padded. It includes votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged (when Republicans proposed cuts), and even votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that Bush aides characterized as ‘watered down.’” (Annenberg Political Fact Check Website, “Bush Accuses Kerry Of 350 Votes For ‘Higher Taxes’ Higher Than What?” www.factcheck.org, Accessed 3/24/04)
ü But If Kerry Had Voted Differently On Tax Cuts, American Families Would Be Paying Lower Taxes.
ü And Kerry Cites Votes For Tax Cuts – When It Suits Him. KERRY: “[W]hen I came to the senate in 1985, the highest rate of tax was 72 percent. I voted to lower it to 28 percent.” (Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday,” 1/25/04)
