The New York Times's Ombud Wants the Paper to Correct Tax Rate Bamboozlement

The New York Times's Ombud Wants the Paper to Correct Tax Rate Bamboozlement

The New York Times's Ombud Wants the Paper to Correct Tax Rate Bamboozlement

Weigel
Reporting on Politics and Policy.
Nov. 26 2012 11:41 AM

The New York Times's Ombud Wants the Paper to Correct Tax Rate Bamboozlement

Margaret Sullivan has had enough, apparently, of reporters using New York Times stories as examples of how people don't know how marginal tax rates work.

I’ve written in the past about fact-checking, and the growing desire by readers to have The Times, and other news organizations, clearly state established truths, even when there is a countervailing opinion. That principle applies to this subject, too.

A good start! But it's almost an insult to the fact-check industry to call this "fact-checking." Writing an article about marginal tax rates and failing to point out that higher marginal rates don't affect income below the threshold is like writing about moon exploration and including a bunch of Man on the Street quotes about how the moon is populated by space vampires.