"Death Tax" Dubious, but "Ghetto Tax" Label Just Fine?
Posted by: Clay Waters
7/19/2006 12:51:40 PM
Eric Eckholm's "Study Documents 'Ghetto Tax' Being Paid by the Urban Poor" has a revealing labeling tic that can be applied to many slanted Times stories.
Eckholm credulously cites a study from the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution and uses the loaded liberal term "ghetto tax" to denote such things as high insurance costs borne by drivers in low-income neighborhoods. Eckholm says such costs are "often called a 'ghetto tax.'"
Eckholm also uses the term directly, without quotes or other journalistic methods of distancing: "Citing other examples of the ghetto tax, the report found that nationally, 4.5 million low-income customers, defined as families making less than $30,000 a year, paid an average of two percentage points more for car loans than did middle-class buyers."
That's not quite how the Times treats a tax it approves of -- the estate tax -- which conservatives label the death tax. The phrase "death tax" is one which the Times invariably secures between quotation marks, making it clear it's not a reputable label, only what Republicans and conservatives call it.
Here's an example from Edmund Andrews on June 7, in which he employs both distancing methods: "Permanently repealing the estate tax, or what Republicans have branded the 'death tax,' is a priority for President Bush and many Republican lawmakers."
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