Debate Truth Chart

Here’s a look at some of the factual assertions made by Vice President Al Gore and his Republican challenger, Jack Kemp, during their debate Wednesday night:

WHAT THEY SAID: Kemp said Americans now pay more of their income in state, local and federal taxes than they spend for food, clothing and shelter combined.

THE FACTS: The source is a study by a conservative think tank. But the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average household spent more than twice as much on food, clothing and shelter as on taxes in 1994.

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WHAT THEY SAID: Kemp also said that when he was growing up, a family with an average income sent 4% or 5% of their income to the federal government in taxes. Now he said, “it’s close to 30%, or at least 27 or 28%.

THE FACTS: In the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Kemp was a teenager, the total federal tax burden on the average-income family was 2%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That burden is 25% today. The change is partly due to higher tax rates, but part of the difference is that there are fewer families in poverty and more families paying taxes. With income more evenly distributed, the average tax burden grows.

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WHAT THEY SAID: Gore said the nation’s average economic growth rate is “higher than in either of the last two Republican administrations.”

THE FACTS: The average growth rate for the Clinton years is 2.6%, higher than the 1.6% during the Bush years, but lower than the 3.1% in the Reagan years.

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WHAT THEY SAID: Kemp termed it “unconscionable” that the Clinton administration omitted Los Angeles from the federal empowerment zone program designed to aid poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods. Gore responded that South-Central Los Angeles was ticketed for a form of the program.

THE FACTS: Los Angeles lost out to six other cities in 94 for designation as an empowerment zone, which would have given it a $350-million package of tax incentives and social service grants. But, as an alternative, a community development bank was established. Through the bank, the administration has pledged $430 million in economic development grants and loan guarantees. Still, his spending is more limited than that allowed under the empowerment zone program.