MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow went on a Wisconsin-inspired rant the other day aimed at “Rustbelt reporters” who she said are being duped by governors who are pleading poverty. In particular, Maddow went after Gov. Rick Snyder.
In response, the Midland-based Mackinac Center attempted to fact-check Maddow, an unabashed liberal, but ended up showing their own right-wing biases rather than offering an objective critique.
First, the Mackinac Center’s Michael LaFaive and James Hohman blasted Maddow’s “7-minute tirade” for references to Snyder’s tax increases on seniors and the poor.
So, giving tax advantages to certain groups is a tax cut, but taking away those advantages is not a tax increase? I suspect more than a few unhappy seniors facing a tax on their pensions would gladly smack LaFaive and Hohman over the head with their canes, while liberals would surely get a hearty chuckle out of such a twisted sense of logic.
These eggheads certainly need to be reminded that plans to let the Bush tax cuts expire last December were labeled by conservative critics as “the biggest tax increase in U.S. history.” One of the most lucrative provisions for the middle class in that tax package – the child tax credit – was set to possibly expire. That was blasted as an unfair tax hike on average American families.
And then there’s the inheritance tax, which applies only to the richest families in America, but conservatives asserted that it was an onerous “death tax” that must be repealed. So, carving out a tax cut that only helps the wealthy is tax relief, but eliminating Michigan’s Earned Income Tax Credit for the poorest working families is not a tax hike?
Now, Maddow can be strident and over-the-top when she leans way to the left, but the Mackinac Center is just as guilty in their push to provide perspectives as facts.
For example, Maddow states the obvious — that Snyder is giving a big, $1.8 billion tax cut to business — and in response the Mackinac Center implies that that’s inaccurate. They say Maddow doesn’t understand that the current Michigan Business Tax is “complex and hated” and Snyder’s plan is welcome relief for employers.
That’s a rebuttal based on facts?
This so-called “reality check” goes downhill from there, especially when Maddow claims that allowing an emergency financial manager to oust local elected officials is an affront to democracy. LaFaive counters that these officials have to go because they “failed to respond effectively in the first place” to a financial crisis.
