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Death and Taxes

Death and Taxes

April 11, 2007

Summary

Did you know that the federal government taxes dead people? Did you know that John McCain wants it to continue? Well, actually, he doesn’t. But that didn’t stop the conservative anti-tax group Club for Growth from saying otherwise. The ad contains a claim that may be literally true, but misleads the viewer by omitting crucial information. This lesson examines the ways in which the unscrupulous can use charged language to mislead casual readers. Students will dig beneath the loaded language to assess the truth of Club for Growth’s claims.

Objectives

In this activity students will:
  • Assess how biased phrasing like “death tax” can do our thinking for us and lead to false impressions.
  • Determine what questions to ask to properly gauge the truthfulness of the claims.
  • Seek reliable sources of information to answer those questions.
  • Read and analyze statistical information in tabular form.
  • Review the information gathered and assess the credibility of the ad.

Background

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona is a prominent prospect for his party’s 2008 nomination for president. Because he was one of two Republicans who voted against President Bush’s 2001 tax cut, he is opposed by the Club for Growth, an independent group that backed the cuts. This ad ran in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary elections.

The Club for Growth advertisement is a clear example of the way loaded words can skew our thinking. The emotional impact of words such as “oppression,” “stupid” or “Nazi” is overwhelmingly negative, while words such as “free,” “spring” and “satisfaction” have positive overtones. Some words, such as “socialism,” “marijuana” and “God” have mixed emotive overtones, while words such as “sun,” “car” and “prospective” have neutral overtones. Emotive meanings can be used for good or for ill. Euphemism is another way to mask content (think: “strategic redeployment” in place of “retreat”).

The phrase “death tax” is a particularly blatant attempt to re-label a fairly neutral term (estate tax) into something that we are predisposed to find troubling. (What? A tax on death?!) Our choice of words can very much influence the way we think about the same set of events.

Materials

  1. “Death Tax,” Club for Growth.
  2. “Death Tax Storyboard,” Club for Growth.
  3. Table T06-0020, “Current Law: Distribution of Gross Estate and Net Estate Tax By Size of Gross Estate, 2006,” Tax Policy Center, 23 Jan. 2006.
  4. “About Us,” Tax Policy Center Web site.
  5.  Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income, “Taxable Estate Tax Returns as a Percentage of Adult Deaths, Selected Years of Death, 1934-2002” (Excel Spreadsheet).
  6. Web site of Sen. John McCain “Statement of Senator John McCain on H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act,” 11 June 2002.
  7. “A Half-true Attack on McCain,” FactCheck.org.
  8. “Don’t Be Fooled,” FactCheck’s guide to avoiding deception.

Procedure

Before class, make enough copies of the storyboard of the ad and the Don’t Be Fooled guide (#2 and #8 above) for each student. Do the same with #7, the FactCheck article, but set it aside for the last exercise. Also determine how many packets of the remaining materials you’ll need for small groups of 3 to 5 students each and make enough copies for the groups. (Note: Even if you are able to show the video of the ad in class, you will probably want students to have the storyboard as backup.)

Pass out the storyboard and Don’t Be Fooled guide.

In the full class, ask students some general questions:
  • Do you believe what you see and hear in TV commercials advertising political candidates? How about commercials for various consumer products? (To the teacher: It might be worth pushing students on this question. They will often initially answer “no.” So ask them some simple questions about commonly advertised products. They’ll be surprised how much advertising they accept uncritically.)
  • What do you know about John McCain? Do you know where he stands on various issues?
Now explain to the class that they will be examining some claims made about John McCain in his last election campaign, along with evidence that may support or contradict those claims. Explain that they should apply the five steps outlined in “Don’t Be Fooled: A Process for Avoiding Deception.” Have them refer to their handout on this. Specifically, they should:
  • Keep an open mind. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking a claim is correct just because it fits your biases.
  • Ask the right questions. Look for the conclusion of the argument and then ask yourself what reasons you are being given for that conclusion. Examine each factual claim and ask what evidence would prove it right or wrong. Then ask whether the premises logically support the conclusions.
  • Cross-check. Look for more than one source of evidence before making up your mind.
  • Consider the source. Think about which sources of information are most trustworthy.
  • Weigh the evidence. Do the facts support the ad’s message?

Exercises


Exercise #1 – Keeping an open mind

To the teacher: Emphasize to students the need to keep an open mind in their research and analysis. People tend to accept any information that supports what they already believe and reject information that conflicts with those beliefs. Students need to make an effort to listen to all sides to avoid accepting inaccurate information as truth.

  • Have students view the Club for Growth ad and review the storyboard linked under “Materials.” Organize students into small groups to discuss the following questions:
  • Who is the “Club for Growth?” Should we accept their claims at face value?
  • By calling the federal estate tax the “death tax,” what does the Club for Growth want us to think about the tax?
  • Suppose we called the tax instead a “tax on inherited wealth”? Might that affect how a viewer reacts to such a tax?
  • What information do we need to keep someone else’s choice of words from doing our thinking for us?
Exercise #2 – Asking questions

To the teacher: Point out to students that to be good analytical thinkers, they need to ask questions. How can the information presented be proved or disproved?

Have students review the two principal claims made in the ad and brainstorm to develop questions on how to validate or disprove those claims.

Claim #1: The ad says, “When you die, the IRS can tax you again. Taking as much as 55 percent of everything you’ve saved for your children.”
  • When the ad says “you,” does it mean that you the viewer can be taxed 55 percent when you die?
  • To find out if that is true, what information would you need?
  • Where would you go to get it?
Claim #2 The ad says, “Sen. John McCain wants to keep the death tax.”
  • Is the ad saying that Sen. McCain favors taxing you, the viewer, 55 percent when you die?
  • What information would you need to determine if that’s true?
  • Where would you go to get that information?
Exercise #3 – Consider the source

To the teacher: It’s important that students learn to seek relatively unbiased information from competent sources. To learn who really pays the estate tax, we direct students to a table produced by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington think tank, using historical data from the Internal Revenue Service and a computer simulation model to predict who will pay the tax in 2006. To discover where McCain stands on the estate tax, we direct students to McCain’s own words, as posted on his official Senate Web site.

Who really pays the estate tax?
  • Looking at Table T06-0020, the columns marked “Taxable Returns” show estimates for 2006. According to this, how many estates of persons who die will actually pay the tax?
  • How many will pay who leave estates valued at between $1 million and $2 million?
  • Of those who leave estates valued at more than $2 million, will the tax take 55 percent? What is the average, according to this?
  • Who actually does the paying? Is the deceased the one who is taxed?
What is McCain’s actual position?
  • On Sen. McCain’s official Senate Web site we find a lengthy statement of his position on the estate tax. Does he oppose permanent repeal of this tax?
  • Is that the same thing as “wanting to keep” the tax in its current form?
  • Notice that McCain says he supports “reform” of the tax, and specifically would “allow up to $5 million worth of assets to be exempt from taxation.” Look again at Table T06-0020 and calculate how many estates that paid tax in 2006 would have gone untaxed under McCain’s proposal.
Exercise #4 –Cross-checking

To the teacher: The Tax Policy Center’s computer simulations are done by experts who use the same techniques practiced by the Treasury Department and by nonpartisan tax experts employed by Congress, and to our knowledge they are not seriously challenged. Nevertheless, we encourage cross-checking and not relying on a single source for information whenever possible. In this case, students could compare the projections with actual historical data from the Internal Revenue Service and judge whether the projections are reasonable given recent changes in the estate tax.

Should we rely on the Tax Policy Center’s projections?
  • Check the Tax Policy Center’s computer projections against Internal Revenue Service statistics of who actually paid the estate tax in the past.
  • According to the IRS table: “Taxable Estate Tax Returns as a Percentage of Adult Deaths, Selected Years of Death, 1934-2002,” how many estates of those who died in 2002 were taxed?
  • What percentage of those who died in 2002 paid the estate tax?
  • That was when estates of $1 million or more were taxed. Would the percentage be higher or lower in 2006 when only estates of $2 million or more are to be taxed?
  • Are the Tax Policy Center’s projections consistent with the IRS historical data, keeping in mind that the tax threshold doubled between 2002 and 2006?
  • Should that make us more or less confident that the Tax Policy Center’s figures are trustworthy?
Exercise #5 –Weighing the evidence

To the teacher: Help students weigh the facts they have gathered against the claims – both literal and implied – in the ad. Note that each word of a statement may be true in a literal sense but nevertheless leave a false impression in the mind of the casual listener. Tune their ears to listen for artfully worded deceptions. If your class has completed the FactCheckED.org lesson on fallacies, you might have noticed that the ad presents two booby traps for the inattentive. It makes questionable use of statistics (by presenting the 55 percent figure as if it applied to everyone rather than to only a small portion of the population. There is also vagueness in the wording. “The IRS can take up to 55 percent” is true, but the word “can” can be taken in two ways. One means that the IRS is legally entitled to take 55 percent of your estate when you die, while the other means that some estates end up paying 55 percent to the IRS.) Re-labeling the estate tax as the “death tax” is a second instance of vagueness.

Have students meet in their groups to review what they have found and discuss the following questions:
  • Look at the ad again. Compare what it says with the evidence you have gathered. Is the ad accurate or misleading? Why?
  • Is it literally true to say that McCain “would keep” the estate tax? Does the ad give viewers the wrong idea by failing to note that he favors taxing only those worth more than $5 million?
  • The ad says the IRS can take up to 55 percent of your savings. Is that true for anybody?
  • If your class has completed the FactCheckED.org lesson on fallacies: Does the ad commit any of the major fallacies that were discussed? Was there relevant evidence that was suppressed? Does the ad make proper use of statistics? Are there vague words or phrasings present in the advertisement?
Optional Exercises Optional Exercise #1

Read the transcript of the ad. Assume that you, like the Club for Growth, want the estate tax repealed permanently. Rewrite the ad so that you make your case in a fair and accurate way. Do not distort either McCain’s position or the actual effect of the tax. Make your argument as strong as possible without being misleading. Time your copy so that you can read the words aloud in 30 seconds.

Alternative: Assume that you are Sen. John McCain and you have been attacked by this ad. Write a 30-second ad that sets the record straight. You may directly mention the Club for Growth ad, or not, as you wish. However, you must be both fair and accurate, and state your case in 30 seconds.

About the Author

Brooks Jackson is a journalist who covered Washington and national politics for 34 years, reporting in turn for The Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. At CNN he pioneered the “adwatch” and “factcheck” form of stories debunking false and misleading political statements starting with the presidential election of 1992. His investigative reporting for The AP and the Journal won several national awards. He is the author of two books, Honest Graft: Big Money and the American Political Process (Knopf, 1988) and Broken Promise: Why the Federal Election Commission Failed (Twentieth Century Fund: 1990), as well as co-author (with Kathleen Hall Jamieson) of unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (Random House, 2007).

Correlation to National Standards

National Social Studies Standards
VI. Power, Authority and Governance Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance.
X. Civic Ideals and Practices Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic.

Essential Skills for Social Studies
Acquiring Information
A. Reading Skills
1. Comprehension
2. Vocabulary
B. Study Skills
1. Find Information
2. Arrange Information in Usable Forms
C. Reference & Information-Search Skills
2. Special References
3. Maps, Globes, Graphics
D. Technical Skills Unique to Electronic Devices
1. Computer

Organizing and Using Information
A. Thinking Skills
1. Classify Information
2. Interpret Information
3. Analyze Information
4. Summarize Information
5. Synthesize Information
6. Evaluate Information
B. Decision-Making Skills
C. Metacognitive Skills

Interpersonal Relationships & Social Participation
A. Personal Skills
C. Social and Political Participation Skills

Democratic Beliefs and Values
B. Freedoms of the Individual
C. Responsibilities of the Individual
D. Beliefs Concerning Societal Conditions and Governmental Responsibilities

National Mathematics Standards
Number and Operations Standard
Algebra Standard
Data Analysis and Probability Standard
Process Standards
Problem Solving Standard
Connections Standard

National Educational Technology Standards
Profiles for Technology Literate Students
Performance Indicators
2. Make informed choices among technology systems, resources, and services.
7. Routinely and efficiently use online information resources to meet needs for collaboration, research, publication, communication, and productivity.
8. Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning.

Information Literacy Standards
Information Literacy
Standard 1 accesses information efficiently and effectively.
Standard 2 evaluates information critically and competently.
Standard 3 uses information accurately and creatively.

Social Responsibility
Standard 7 recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.
Standard 8 practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.
Standard 9 participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

English Language Arts Standards
Standard 1 Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary work.
Standard 3 Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
Standard 5 Students employ a wide range of strategies as the write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. Standard 6 Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
Standard 7 Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
Standard 8 Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. Standard 12 Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).