CNN's Velshi Files Wrong Tax Number with Viewers

"Minding Your Business" reporter Ali Velshi flubbed his tax data near the end of an April 13 report on the alternative minimum tax.

Velshi was busy sympathizing with House Democrats who are unlikely to seek a full repeal of the AMT when he ran into trouble:

“Why? Because repealing the AMT would cost the government $50 billion a year. And no matter who you are – if you were the government – you probably wouldn’t give up the $50 million a year,” said Velshi.

Velshi meant billion, although Americans for Tax reform puts the figure higher -$872 billion over the next 10 years, which averages out to $87.2 billion per year.

Velshi gave sole credit to House Democrats for wanting to fix the AMT, despite Republican attempts to fix the AMT in the past – including full repeal in 1999. The CNN reporter, like many other journalists, said nothing about the very same Democrats’ voting for AMT rate increases (and failing to index to inflation) in 1993 and against its full repeal in 1999.

The “American Morning” team also didn’t explain that under “pay as you go” rules, the Democrats will likely try to raise taxes to “pay” for AMT reform, which ATR president Grover Norquist has said is "unconscionable."

Overall, it's been an especially bad week for free marketers watching CNN's "American Morning." The morning show team spent the week bashing Burger King, cheerleading an attack on Big Oil, and then calling mandatory carbon regulation "the right direction."