'Breeding Tax' Ad In Bucks Co. Race Flunks Fact Checks

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The race for Congress is heating up in Bucks County, and that can only mean one thing: more ads, and more sparring between the campaigns. And the latest ad has accusations being hurled from both sites.

The ad, released this week by National Republican Congressional Committee in support of Brian Fitzpatrick, is titled "Irresponsible." It accuses Democrat Scott Wallace saying he wants to to tax big families "to the hilt" for "irresponsible breeding."

The problem? It's not true, fact checkers from multiple news organizations, including NBC and Politifact, say.

What is true is that between 1997 and 2003, Wallace's charitable foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, gave $420,000 to a group called Zero Population Growth, according to Fox News. In 1968, that group released a brochure that said "irresponsible people who have more than two children should be taxed to the hilt for the privilege of irresponsible breeding" Fox News reported.

The group changed its name to Population Connection in 2002. And according to an NBC News report, its leadership says "it has long since abandoned the views" from that brochure back in 1968.

Wallace, who has three children of his own, says he has never advocated for taxing families of a certain size.

"Of course, he does not support taxing parents for having more than two children. He supports letting women and families make their own decisions," campaign spokesman Zoe Wilson-Meyer said.

Here is the full ad:

Image via YouTube