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Remember facts in reporting on tax reform

As your newspaper completes its "year in review" pieces, please don't forget to remember that on Nov. 6, 2018, the residents of the 6th Congressional District were wise enough to see through the lies of Peter Roskam's GOP tax scam. Despite your endorsement of Roskam, the voters elected Sean Casten, a candidate who based his campaign around the phrase "facts matter."

A recent in-depth analysis and "fact check" in Bloomberg of what was promised versus what's been delivered one year later brings into focus just how empty Roskam's and the GOP's promises were regarding their so-called "biggest achievement."

Briefly, here's what the Bloomberg fact check found (using GOP quotes):

1) "The middle class will be the biggest beneficiaries" - FALSE

2) "Corporations will boost wages and families will get an average pay increase of $4-9,000" - FALSE

3) "Corporations will repatriate trillions of dollars stashed offshore back to the U.S." - FALSE

4) "The tax cuts will pay for themselves" - FALSE

5) "The tax law will help create long-term GDP growth of 3 percent" - FALSE

So, as we move forward to a new year, I hope that you will resolve to make "facts matter" in your newspaper all of the time, not just when there isn't an election. Last year, you endorsed Roskam after he received a "pants on fire" rating and many of the above facts were in plain sight. It was a disservice to your readers. You can do better.

Jerry Freda

Inverness

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