WINK News Investigates: Tax Hikes in 2015?

FORT MYERS, Fla.- We’re six days away from the official start of the tax filing season, but some people are already starting out with bad information. An e-mail is making it’s way around full of tax rate hike announcements for 2015.

The main problem according to our research partners at PolitiFact, is that it’s a recycled e-mail from 2014, and most of the changes actually took effect in 2013.  They gave it a rating of PANTS ON FIRE on the Truth-o-Meter.

Here’s the e-mail text:

Reminder for those who forgot or for many that didn’t know
Here is what will happen on January 1, 2015 :
-Top Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%   
-Top Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%   
-Top Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%   
-Capital Gains tax went from 15% to 28%   
-Dividends tax went from 15% to 39.6%   
-Estate tax went from 0% to 55%   

Remember this fact:   
-These taxes were all passed only with democrat votes, no republicans voted for these taxes.   
-These taxes were all passed under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

If you think that it is important that everyone in the U.S. should know this, pass it  on. If not, then delete it.

PolitiFact reports most of the numbers are exaggerated.  In fact, it gets very few things correct.

Also factored into the rating, was the political spin at the end of the e-mail.

The e-mail  blames Democrats and Obamacare, saying no Republicans voted for these taxes.  PolitiFact says most of the tax hikes stem from another bill passed in 2012.  It received support from most senate republicans and some republicans in the house.

For accurate information, the IRS lists federal tax rates here.

To read the entire PolitiFact article, click here.