Beware of Misinformation

It is being widely reported that citizens are subject to misinformation about all public policy issues. Not only are people subject to misinformation, but as significant, the withholding of truthful information.

Everyone has personal anecdotal experiences about misinformation propagated by the media, but now a nationally representative annual survey commissioned by Just Facts, a non-profit research and educational institute has been conducted on the subject.

Just Facts, a non-profit research and educational institute had the survey conducted by Triton Polling & Research, an academic research firm that used sound methodologies to assess U.S. residents who regularly vote.

Based on Just Facts data and analysis,Issues and Insights found the following:

"The highest levels of misinformation were found on questions relating to child hunger, tax burdens, poverty, landfills, health insurance copayments, and two elements of Social Security finances. For these 7 questions, 75% or more of voters provided an incorrect answer. 

Among 8 of the 10 questions in which the electorate was most deluded, the wrong answers they gave accorded with progressive storylines propagated by the media. Moreover, these answers were often far removed from reality, not just slightly mistaken. 

For example, 79% of voters think that the middle class pays a greater portion of their income in federal taxes than the top 1%. Yet, the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Treasury, and the Tax Policy Center have all documented that households in the top 1% pay an average federal tax rate that is about 2.5 times higher than that of the middle class. More specifically, the latest Congressional Budget Office data on federal taxes shows that on average in 2016: 

• middle-income households paid $10,100 in taxes on income of $75,900, or a tax rate of 13%.

• the top 1% of households paid $595,900 in taxes on income of $1,789,800, or a tax rate of 33%.

Nevertheless, media outlets commonly report the opposite based on deceptive studies that exclude large portions of people’s taxes and/or incomes. A remarkable 93% of Democrat voters have accepted this canard, as well as 65% of Trump voters."

Of course we have experienced this misinformation here in Georgetown with respect to the Georgetown Electric Company. In addition to the misinformation reported by the national media, our local elected Representatives have failed to provide truthful information either by design or through incompetence or ignorance.

The citizens of Georgetown need to be skeptical of all media, ask questions and request corroborating independent sources.