Ron Paul’s “zero” tax claim fueled No. 6 reader favorite fact check of 2012

Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul and other hopefuls were asked at a January 2012 Republican presidential debate what the highest federal income tax rate should be.

Paul, one-upping others on stage, replied: “We should have the lowest tax that we’ve ever had, and up until 1913, it was 0 percent. What’s so bad about that?”

Zero percent from the 1780’s to 1913?

Not quite.

Paul’s reference to 1913 reflected the 20th-century constitutional change enabling the current income tax. But his claim disregarded two pre-1913 efforts to impose an income tax — one of which held in place for a decade. The claim was rated Half True.

And our check of the claim was our readers No. 6 favorite article of the year.

See the full check and ones that ranked seven through 10 to the right–including two reviews of other Paul claims.

We’ll post our No. 5 reader favorite article here tomorrow.