Handel’s claim on Affordable Care Act taxes is offbase using any method

We looked at the scale of the Affordable Care Act taxes and found that Handel is mistaken. In the dollar amounts, three tax measures topped the Obamacare tax increases. Relative to the size of the economy (using the metric of the gross domestic product) six tax increases were higher.

To fully test Handel’s statement, we picked the year with the highest amount for each bill.

With that approach, three tax increases were larger. The Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968 ( Johnson), the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (Reagan) and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Clinton) ranked above the Affordable Care Act tax impact.

But using constant dollars misses a big piece of the picture. A larger economy can absorb a higher tax hike, and the nation’s gross domestic product has grown a lot over the years. To compare apples to apples, we took the federal government’s data on gross domestic product and calculated the impact of each tax increase relative to the size of the economy. In 1982, for example, the $89.8 billion impact amounted to 1.14 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

Our ruling

Handel said the Affordable Care Act is the single largest tax increase in her lifetime. Using constant dollars, three tax laws ranked higher. Relative to the size of the U.S. economy and federal revenues the year before, six tax hikes were larger than those in the Affordable Care Act.

We rate this claim False.

Karen Handel said the Affordable Care Act is the single largest tax increase in her lifetime during a telephone town hall. But we found that’s just not true.