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Why the phrase “fake news” is popular
A case in how virulent anti-Trump hysteria can snowball to near out-of-control proportions: Two days before Christmas, “The Office” star Jenna Fischer tweeted out that American teachers would suffer under the new GOP tax plan:
“I can’t stop thinking about how school teachers can no longer deduct the cost of their classroom supplies on their taxes,” she wrote. “Something they shouldn’t have to pay for with their own money in the first place. I mean, imagine if nurses had to go buy their own syringes. #ugh.”
As of this morning, her message has been retweeted some 65,000 times.
https://twitter.com/jennafischer/status/944609878349246464
“Fact check,” Mediaite reports: “The $250 school supplies deduction was actually kept in the bill.”
Fischer got around to acknowledging her error — sort of — but then slammed the amount of the deduction:
It was capped at $250 which is woefully insufficient especially considering they shouldn’t have to go out of pocket at all. #iloveteachers
— Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) December 24, 2017
Social media had to enlighten Fischer again: The $250 deduction has been the standard for fifteen years and was made “permanent” in 2015. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates teachers taking advantage of the write-off cost the government a rather paltry $210 million this year, or just 0.3 percent of the U.S. Department of Education’s $68 billion budget.
On Christmas afternoon, Fischer finally admitted she “had some facts wrong,” yet still made it seem the new tax law is responsible for the $250 cap:
Thanks for your tweets! I had some facts wrong. Teachers surveyed by Scholastic in 2016 personally spent an average of $530 on school supplies for students. Teachers who worked at high-poverty schools spent an average of $672. The tax deduction was capped at $250.
— Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) December 25, 2017
A total falsehood garnering 65,000 retweets compared to … just 650 (at present) for the reality. And it’s still not completely accurate.
Stick to acting, Ms. Fischer.
UPDATE: Ms. Fischer admitted her error earlier today. Good for her.
I've deleted a tweet and would like to issue an apology. Please read and re-tweet to help me spread the word! Thanks! pic.twitter.com/R6CNyn4bVV
— Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) December 27, 2017
MORE: Obama’s attack on the charitable deduction
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