AP FACT CHECK: Trump's tax fictions; Dem debate misfires

WASHINGTON (AP) — In their boisterous presidential debate, several Democrats sold short the health care plans of rivals and Mike Bloomberg distorted his position on the “stop and frisk" police strategy when he was New York City mayor. In an audacious league of his own, President Donald Trump celebrated the elimination of a tax that still exists and went deep and wide in distorting what he's done in office.

A look at some of their recent claims and reality:

TAXES

TRUMP: “We got rid of it. No more death tax, no more inheritance tax.” — Colorado rally Thursday.

THE FACTS: False. The “death” tax is still alive.

He's referring to the estate tax, also known as the inheritance tax. He didn't get “rid of it.”

The 2017 tax overhaul doubled the threshold at which the estate tax gets levied. A couple worth less than $22.4 million would avoid the tax. But the increase of the threshold isn’t permanent. It's set to expire in 2026.

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TRUMP, on the effects of the estate tax on people inheriting family farms: “You know what? They go out and they would borrow a lot of money and they would lose the farms. The number is staggering.” — Colorado rally.

THE FACTS: He's inflating the peril to family farms from the estate tax, which is aimed at the hugely wealthy. After his 2017 tax cuts, the Agriculture Department published estimates that 38,106 farm estates would be created in 2018. Of those, only 230 would have to file an estate tax return and only 133 would have any estate tax liability.

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TRADE

TRUMP: "If our formally targeted farmers need additional aid until such time as the trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada and others fully kick in, that aid will be provided by the federal government, paid for out of the massive tariff money coming into the USA!”...