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How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Atlanta issuing more traffic tickets, Georgia’s new gas tax and Jeb Bush bad-mouthing Donald Trump.
They all took a ride on the AJC’s Truth-O-Meter last week, courtesy of PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
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E. Frank Stephenson on Friday, August 14th, 2015 in a Georgia Public Policy Foundation blog post
“Contrary to media reports, Georgia’s gas tax change led to no price increase at the pump.”
Anyone who took a road trip over Labor Day couldn’t help but notice prices at the pump.
The national and Georgia average for regular gasoline hovered at $2.40 a gallon over the weekend and dipped another penny to $2.39 a gallon by Tuesday, according to AAA. Metro Atlanta drivers were paying an average of $2.34 a gallon.
That’s the lowest price since 2004 – despite a change in the state gasoline tax over the summer that critics warned was a tax hike for Georgia drivers.
The chairman of Berry College’s economics department, writing for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, suggested that media reports were “surprising” given the change would not and did not mean higher gas prices.
“Contrary to media reports, Georgia’s gas tax change led to no price increase at the pump,” according to the piece by economics professor E. Frank Stephenson and student Clay G. Collins. “There may well be some good reasons to criticize the transportation bill, but hiking gas taxes isn’t one of them.”
Stephenson and Collins used neighboring states to show that Georgia prices dropped the same as states that did not alter their gas taxes this summer. That analysis, however, doesn’t indicate what sorts of market forces could depress pump prices, even as a growing share of that cost is taxes.
And, the math shows just what was predicted when Georgia switched to a higher statewide excise tax on July 1: motorists paying several cents more per gallon than they would have under the former system.
If not for the tax change, Georgia motorists would be paying even less at the pump now.
Stephenson used accurate numbers but left out critical facts that provide that important context.
We rated his claim Half True.
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Atlanta has issued an increasing number of citations - and collected an increasing amount of revenue - since Mayor Kasim Reed took office in 2010.
Reader email August 3rd, 2015
A reader reached out via email asking us to check whether the city of Atlanta issued an increasing number of citations – and collected more money – since Reed took office.
Parking tickets have long been a hot topic in the Big A, and the reader sent along a 2011 quote from Reed that he contended shows the goal was: a push for new revenue.
“I think that if we do it well that that is an area to generate approximately $10 million dollars or more in revenue. We are going to have robust traffic enforcement and the court needs to be prepared to handle those cases because that is how revenue is being lost,” the quote read.
PolitiFact Georgia decided to check.
Our research confirmed that tickets issued since Reed took office have increased, both when issued by city police and the city’s outsourced parking enforcer.
Combined, the number of citations increased about 16 percent in that time – and the revenue collected from them swelled a whopping 45 percent.
City leaders have a point that some growth would be expected, given the private parking enforcement and the increase in officers in the city. Proving the motivation – increased revenue, more focused policing or a combination of both – is difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint.
We rated the claim Mostly True.
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Jeb Bush on Friday, August 21st, 2015 in a fundraising email
Trump proposed enacting the largest tax increase in American history.”
Republican candidates continue to attack Donald Trump on his past positions, claiming he is not the conservative he says he is today.
Jeb Bush picked up the attack by taking on Trump over tax policy.
“I cut taxes every year,” Bush said at an Aug. 20 rally in New Hampshire. “He’s proposed the largest tax increase in mankind’s history, not just our own country’s history.”
The next day Bush repeated the basic claim in a fundraising email: “Trump proposed enacting the largest tax increase in American history.”
Seems like something worth fact-checking.
Yes, in 1999, Trump proposed a historically large tax increase: a one-time tax of 14.25 percent on people and trusts worth $10 million or more.
Trump said the tax would have raised $5.7 trillion and wiped out the national debt. Experts called it unviable and Trump has since backed away from the idea.
But Bush was right on his history.
We rated his claim True.
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