McCain flunks Fact Check again

McCain continues to distort Obama's tax plans. In one recent ad, he claims that Obama will tax home heating oil. The facts on the ground: Obama proposed a rebate of up to $1,000 per family to help cover increased heating oil costs; costs of the rebate to be funded by a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

The rationalization for the falsehood is, "Raising taxes on oil companies will result in higher costs to the consumer." That prediction is an honest opinion. The statement, "Obama will tax home heating oil" is not a prediction, it is not an opinion, it is a lie.

The prediction isn't a lie, it's just wrong. Like most of the so-called-conservatives, John McCain has never read Adam Smith and has no idea how a free market actually works.

If a business passes the cost of higher taxes on to the consumer, the consumer sees the cost up front. If consumption falls, business lowers the price and when that cuts into profits, business has a motivation for invention, innovation, finding lower-cost ways to deliver its product.

Trying to lower business costs by lowering business taxes is short-circuiting the free market cycle, NOT supporting it. It removes the motivation for innovation in production.

In the real world, when business taxes are lowered they do not pass the savings on to the customer. Why should they? What incentive do they have to do so?

And lowering taxes on business does NOT make the tax burden disappear. It only transfers it. Customers end up paying at the pump and ALSO at the IRS -- and even non-customers end up paying more at the IRS. too.

End of boring wonk session. Now for the rant:

Stop making American taxpayers subsidize Big Oil on the chance it will hold down the cost of your oil and gas. It never does. It only encourages them to gouge more, both up front and behind our backs.

We pay record prices at the pumps and oil companies post record profits. We pay record prices for groceries and agribusinesses post record profits. How many neurons does it take to recognize that you are being HAD?

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