The GOP-passed tax legislation passed in late 2017, remains a centerpiece of the 2018 mid-term elections. One side will be praising it, the other attacking it. USA Today only seems to care about who backs one side of that battle.
Advertisements celebrating or attacking the tax bill were the focus of an April 17, USA Today front-page exclusive. It reported that “GOP groups and candidates have run nearly 17,800 spots this year that tout tax reform ... the barrage has forced Democrats to retaliate with commercials that slam the tax cuts as helping the wealthy — and endangering Medicare and Social Security in the years ahead.”
It took only three paragraphs for USA Today to slam Americans for Prosperity, labeling it as “a deep-pocketed group aligned with conservative billionaire Charles Koch.” AFP bought many spots mentioning the tax bill. Funding from the left was never mentioned, even when groups funded by major liberal donors were mentioned in the story.
The paper cited the supposedly “non-partisan group” Tax Policy Center without noting it received funding from major liberal foundations and some of the deepest pockets around. It also quoted “liberal” coalition Not One Penny which is running anti-tax bill ads in states “aimed at vulnerable Republican incumbents.”
The liberal media’s favorite tax experts, Tax Policy Center — a joint project of the liberal Urban Institute and the liberal Brookings Institution — was labeled “non-partisan.” A common, misleading description media outlets use for the group, that masks the liberal economics TPC promotes. USA Today cited the TPC’s estimates regarding the tax cut including how many would get a tax cut this year, and how many would be paying more by 2027.
The liberal Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation gave the TPC more than $10 million since 2004. Billionaire George Soros funded both of its parent groups (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution) as well. He gave them a combined total of more than $7.7 million between 2000 and 2013.
In the case of Not One Penny, the paper also failed to follow the money, although at least they acknowledged the coalition’s political agenda. Liberal donor and activist Tom Steyer’s NextGen America was one of the coalition partners.
The host of liberal groups forming Not One Penny’s opposition to what they called “the GOP’s tax scam bill” included at least five Soros-funded groups, possibly more.
Demos, Economic Policy Institute, Friends of the Earth, Hip Hop Caucus and National Women’s Law Center were all beneficiaries of the left-wing donor’s largesse — and received a combined total of more than $18 million ($18,387,737).
