Giving thanks for what’s True

PolitiFact Georgia is getting into the Thanksgiving mindset with a focus more on pants that stretch than pants that ignite.

Sure, we’re grateful for the long election season that gave us plenty to find wrong in claims and statements all across the political spectrum.

But this is the season when we think about what we are most thankful for, which are the statements that politicians and others make that are actually right.

In their honor, here’s a collection of some of our most popular, and accurate, claims.

Georgia’s overall revenues only returned this year to 2007 levels.

Nathan Deal, Sept. 15, 2014 in candidate forum

As you’re sizing up how big a slice of pumpkin pie you can manage, take a moment to be grateful that the Great Recession is over. Your waistband, and Georgia school kids, will thank you.

Unpaid furlough days and larger class sizes have been a persistent woe in the public school system for years, as Georgia and the nation struggled with the sharp revenue declines that accompanied the economic downturn and lingered well after it was officially done.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal said during the campaign that the state’s collections have only recently rebounded to their 2007 levels.

He’s right. Tax collections hit $17.8 billion in 2007, then plunged to a low of $14.5 billion in 2010.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, collections were at $17.9 billion.

That could help Deal update the state’s 30-year-old funding formula for k-12 schools. But it certainly should allow for a repeat of the $300 million extra Deal put in this year’s budget for education. Parents would be thankful for an end to shorter school years, even if students might feel differently.

The Pink Pony club in DeKalb County has never been cited for any violation of an ordinance or state law.

Pink Pony, May 13, 2013 in a TV interview

We’re going back to last year for this one, but it remains relevant, since the new city of Brookhaven recently inked a deal with the adult strip club that allows it to keep galloping as is for the next six years.

And if you’re taking Grandpa Joe out to the Pony – to watch football after the feast, of course – you want him to be safe, right?

Risqué reputation aside, the Pony fits that bill. We found a claim by the club’s attorneys accurate: it has never been cited for a violation of any law or ordinance since it opened off Buford Highway in 1991.

The club did lose its legal battle with Brookhaven, over a local law that city adopted. The deal means that in six years the club must comply with the ordinance that says it can’t sell alcohol if it still allows nude dancing.

Still, that’s plenty of time to check off Grandpa Joe’s bucket list. For football.

Americans spend “6.1 billion hours a year” on tax preparation.

U.S.. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC,  April 15, 2014 in in a comment on Twitter

You might consider using your tryptophan coma to rest up for Tax Day.

The Christmas decorations that showed up a few weeks before Halloween might not show it, but April 15 is just around the corner.

And the National Taxpayer Advocate estimates that Americans spend a combined 6.1 billion hours filling out tax forms every year: 3.16 billion by individuals and another 2.94 billion by businesses.

That adds up to more than 695,000 years, which coincidentally is also how many times hacks make jokes about feeling groggy on Thanksgiving.

Oh, and that sleepiness that hits you after you gorge? It’s not the tryptophan. It’s the overeating, according to our friends at WebMD.

Thank goodness we’re not focused on falsehoods this time around.

Just another thing to be thankful for, along with all of our readers. Happy Thanksgiving, all!