Claims about Romney tax plan, Pallone election contest tested on the Truth-O-Meter

Taxes and tallies topped the Truth-O-Meter this weekend as PolitiFact New Jersey ruled on claims about Mitt Romney’s proposed tax plan and whether Republican Anna Little has come closer than anyone else in trying to unseat a longtime Democratic congressman.

In case you missed it, the Truth-O-Meter on Sunday gave a Half True to a claim by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee about Romney’s plan. Little’s claim about Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) received a False on Monday. Little is challenging Pallone again in November for his seat.

Democratic State Committee claim

The committee said in an Aug. 1 news release that a tax proposal from Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, would increase taxes on the average middle-class family by $2,000 in 2015 to fund $5 trillion in tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. The Democrats announced their claim after reviewing the findings of a study of Romney’s plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The Truth-O-Meter determined the Democrats’ $2,000 figure is accurate, but the amount of a tax break for the wealthy is wrong: it would be about $87,000 in 2015 – not $5 trillion.

Little claim

The former Monmouth County freeholder claimed during an Aug. 2 interview on NJToday that her campaign for Congress made history in 2010 by coming closer than anyone else in 24 years to defeating Pallone (D-6th Dist.). There are a couple of problems with that statement, however. Pallone defeated Little by 16,520 votes for his closest victory in 20 years. Prior to that, Paul Kapalko came the closest in 1990, losing by 4,170 votes. The next closest was Joseph Azzolina in 1988, losing by 9,545 votes.

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Questionable claims

Heard or read a claim that sounds too good to be true or too odd to be believed? Share the claim in an e-mail to us at politifactnj@starledger.com and we may put it to the Truth-O-Meter.