Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ted Cruz’s claim that the IRS tax code has more words than the Bible
Washington Post ^ | March 11 at 3:00 AM | Michelle Ye Hee Lee

Posted on 03/11/2015 7:29:17 AM PDT by SoConPubbie

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton

 

"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan

 

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792

 

"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

 

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

 


1 posted on 03/11/2015 7:29:17 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie; Kale; Jarhead9297; COUNTrecount; notaliberal; DoughtyOne; RitaOK; MountainDad; ...
Ted Cruz Ping!

If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.

Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!


CRUZ or LOSE!


2 posted on 03/11/2015 7:30:04 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Taxman

Courtesy Ping.


3 posted on 03/11/2015 7:31:00 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

The tax code’s complexity is intentional.
It is that way in order to allow elected officials the ability to reward friends and punish opponents.


4 posted on 03/11/2015 7:31:47 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TADSLOS

They acknowledge the truth of the statement but then go on a political rant about why they don’t like people using the comparison. This pretty much destroys any claim to objectivity they may make.


5 posted on 03/11/2015 7:32:42 AM PDT by circlecity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: circlecity
They acknowledge the truth of the statement but then go on a political rant about why they don’t like people using the comparison. This pretty much destroys any claim to objectivity they may make.

Well, it's the Washington Post, so....

6 posted on 03/11/2015 7:38:32 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

A good comparison between good and evil.


7 posted on 03/11/2015 7:52:08 AM PDT by Evil Slayer ((Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war....))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

This is what they fact check????


8 posted on 03/11/2015 7:54:18 AM PDT by ealgeone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

I’m a little confused here, after reading the byline. I always thought it was spelled “Yee Haw”. That’s the way we say it around here anyhow.


9 posted on 03/11/2015 7:55:36 AM PDT by jstaff
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Obama has received so many Pinocchios Valerie Jarret’s secret service code name is Geppetto.


10 posted on 03/11/2015 7:57:22 AM PDT by csmusaret (Will remove Obama-Biden bumperstickers for $10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Amazing what gets severe scrutiny out of a Republican’s mouth vs the complete lack of scrutiny of the words of any leading Democrats. Utterly pathetic.

Then, I see people I respect on the libertarian front who scoff at the idea that there is any liberal bias in the media. At the end of the day, most libertarians play for the other side in their imbalance of standards between the left and right. They should side with the right and advance the liberty issues where there is agreement, but IMO their feelings on religion drive them to side with their worst enemies...the totalitarian big-government left.


11 posted on 03/11/2015 8:08:25 AM PDT by ilgipper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
"Cruz is correct on the comparison of words in both texts. But regular readers of The Fact Checker know we frown on such counting exercises . . . "

In other words, what Cruz said was true - not even close to an exaggeration - but we're going to suggest that he's a liar anyway.
12 posted on 03/11/2015 8:12:55 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Sadly over 30 years ago this subject of the tax code was being lamented. Then GW Bush was going to reform the tax code and on and on. Its never going to happen or it already would have.


13 posted on 03/11/2015 8:14:09 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ealgeone
"This is what they fact check????"

Amazing, isn't it? They write an entire article fact-checking an offhand statement that they admit is true. Well, it's Ted Cruz, so they MUST go after him and smear him no matter what.

This sort of thing presents me with a moral problem - I begin wishing that the 9/11 planes had crashed into the Washington Post and New York Times, and that's not a very Christian thing to wish.
14 posted on 03/11/2015 8:20:32 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

The desperation on the part of the Washington Post is massive....and it shows.


15 posted on 03/11/2015 8:30:58 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Walker/Cruz 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
"Such comparisons — in this case, the word count of the evolving tax code of the most industrious country in the world to words in a religious document that was written thousands of years ago — don’t really tell you much of anything. We will not issue a Pinocchio rating or award a Geppetto Checkmark. But it is worth exploring this word-count comparison and how the tax code’s complexities affect taxpayers.

The Facts The literally translated King James Version of the Bible contains just over 800,000 words. There are as many as 3.7 million individual words in the IRS tax code. (Another count places it as low as 2.6 million words without substantive words such as “is” and “and.”)

Comments (in no particular order):

1. For the tax code, they provide an alternate reduced word count by omitting "and" and "the." They don't do that with the Bible. Why not?

2. "We will not issue a Pinocchio rating . . . " - How broad-minded of them, since they admit that Cruz's statement was true.

3. Yes, modern society is more complex than the society of Bible times, but that does not mean that the tax code must therefore contain 3.7 million words. A tax code that wasn't packed with lobbyist-induced loopholes and exceptions and add-ons and social engineering could very well require only a few thousand words.
16 posted on 03/11/2015 8:34:00 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB
The tax code’s complexity is intentional.
It is that way in order to allow elected officials the ability to reward friends and punish opponents.

There is no stronger argument for a flat tax.

17 posted on 03/11/2015 8:38:41 AM PDT by null and void (So keep your eyes set on the horizon/On the line where blue meets blue)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: csmusaret

Ah! Nice! I’m stealing that for a tagline...


18 posted on 03/11/2015 8:39:57 AM PDT by null and void (Obama has received so many Pinocchios Valerie JarretÂ’s secret service code name is Geppetto.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Is this the same “fact checker” that fact-checked a mildly anti-Obama SNL skit and found it “factually lacking”?


19 posted on 03/11/2015 8:41:08 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void

And it’s a “jobs program” for attorneys and accountants.


20 posted on 03/11/2015 8:41:35 AM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson