Excerpt:
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released last weekend, only 12 percent of respondents think that their federal taxes were reduced under the Obama administration. Twice as many respondents think that their federal taxes have increased.
The results of this poll can only lead to one of two mutually exclusive conclusions: Either the President is lying to the American people about tax cuts, or 88 percent of the respondents of this poll are incorrect and misinformed.
According to a report by the non-partisan Urban Institute and Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, President Obama is correct in saying that 95 percent of Americans have had their federal taxes reduced in 2009.
So, if the President is telling the truth when he says that 95 of Americans are getting tax cuts, why do so few think that is not the case?
CBS news writers speculate that may be the case because state and local taxes have increased, as well as cost of living expenses, to a level where the marginal decreases in federal taxes are not noticeable. A more plausible explanation may be that “talk of raising taxes in the future clouded the landscape.” CBS and the Times may be on to something with that statement. But who’s responsible for clouding the landscape? Look no further than mainstream media.
The problem is not so much what corporate media covers…it’s what is not covered.
Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m2d16-Poll-Only-12-of-Americans-think-federal-taxes-were-cut-in-2009
Thanks for the chart, bart! I used it in this one.