ABC-7 Listens: Unfair comparison on Romney’s taxes?

ABC-7 heard from several viewers about a recent story about the taxes Mitt and Ann Romney have paid.

The story in question aired on ABC-7 at Four on Sept. 21. It was actually produced by ABC news for local affiliates to air in their newscasts.

The passage that got viewers’ temperatures up was this, from reporter Karen Travers: “From 1990 to 2009, the Romneys say they paid an average federal tax rate of about 20 percent – the lowest personal tax rate they paid was 13.66 percent. The average American pays about 35 percent.”

That didn’t sit well with ABC-7 viewer, “Ed,” who wrote to say, “While commenting on Mitt Romney’s tax rate over 20 years (20 %), you stated that the average American pays 35%. You are comparing apples and oranges.”

Viewer “Nathan” said he played his D-V-R back three times to be sure he heard right. “Thisis absolutely not true,” he wrote. “The average American pays no income taxes. The highest marginal tax rate is 35 percent, so it is impossible for the average American to pay this rate.”

An ABC-7 managerial review of the the story revealed a linguistic problem even before getting into the numbers. “Average” is a mathematical concept. It shouldn’t be used as a synonym for “typical” in this context. As such,
there is no such thing as an “average American.”

As for the numbers: The Congressional Budget Office says Americans pay an average federal income tax rate closer to about ten percent. We theorize network reporter Traverslumped in lots of other taxes Americans pay to reach the 35 percent number.

But our viewers are right. That’snot a fair comparison at all.

Although that story originated with the network, it’s our responsibility to reject it if it doesn’t meet our standards.

ABC-7 should have done that. Weapologize for that omission. And we appreciate viewers like Ed and Nathan for taking the time to point it out.