There’s just over a week left before the Nov. 8 election. For the next week, PolitiFact Georgia will be looking at how Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have fared on fact-checks about major issues in the race for president of the United States.
Today we look at their statements on the economy.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 in the third 2016 presidential debate:
Says Hillary Clinton’s “plan is going to raise taxes and even double your taxes.”
In the third debate, Trump said Clinton’s proposal could lead to big bills for taxpayers.
Independent analyses found that the vast majority of taxpayers would see tax cuts or no change to their tax bill under the Clinton plan.
The richest taxpayers would see increases — and the very richest could see significant increases — but even the typical rich taxpayer would not see their taxes double.
We rated Trump's statement Mostly False.
Hillary Clinton on Monday, September 26th, 2016 at Hofstra University, said the Great Recession emerged “in large part because of tax policies that slashed taxes on the wealthy, failed to invest in the middle class, took their eyes off of Wall Street, and created a perfect storm.”
In the first presidential debate, Clinton made some claims about the Great Recession.
It’s widely accepted that lack of Wall Street regulation played a role. It’s arguable that income inequality helped set the conditions. But an broad spectrum of economists agreed that the recession was primarily caused by a housing bubble that turned into a financial crisis.
So it’s a significant exaggeration for Clinton to say tax cuts on the wealthy “in large part” caused the crisis.
We rated Clinton’s claim Mostly False.
Donald Trump on Saturday, July 30th, 2016 in a tweet:
“American home ownership rate in Q2 2016 was 62.9% - lowest rate in 51” years.
Trump said home ownership is at its lowest since 1965.
There are some caveats, like lifestyle, not economic, changes. And some experts say the housing market is not in as dire straits as this one statistic suggests. There are many factors in this equation. But for the most part, he’s right.
We rated Trump's claim Mostly True.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, July 5th, 2016 in a speech in Charlotte, N.C.:
Said Donald Trump “wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage.”
She is right. While Trump has been all over the map on the issue, he has said the federal government should not set a nationwide minimum wage at all.
He also said he personally thinks the minimum wage should be higher or it should be up to the states.
We rated Clinton's claim True.
Donald Trump on Thursday, October 13th, 2016 in a speech in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“Workers in the United States are making less than they were almost 20 years ago, and yet they are working harder.”
Based strictly on what Trump is saying, he’s incorrect. Median, inflation-adjusted wages are higher now than they were for 18 out of the 20 previous years. Hours worked are lower now than in any previous year except around 2014 after the Great Recession. However, median household incomes have fallen.
We rated the statement Mostly False.
Hillary Clinton on Monday, March 21st, 2016 in a rally at a Phoenix high school said:
“The economy always does better when there’s a Democrat in the White House.”
Democratic presidents do have more Gross Domestic Product growth than Republicans, according to quarterly GDP data dating back to 1947.
But there are some caveats. The current growth in the economy under Obama is lower than the Republican average. Factors such as oil prices also reflect the higher GDP growth under Democratic presidents. Additionally, comparisons of one period of time to another or one president to another can be problematic.
We rated Clinton's claim Half True.
