Christie’s Logical Fallacy

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Gov. Chris Christie (R-New Jersey) offered a fallacious argument when questioned about Warren Buffett’s argument on tax increases for the wealthy. The logical fallacy is Ad Hominem Tu Quoque and is committed when “it is concluded that a person’s claim is false because 1) it is inconsistent with something else a person has said or 2) what a person says is inconsistent with her actions.”

When asked about Warren Buffett’s call for higher taxes on the wealthy, Christie replies: “If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check.” The implication is that since Buffet isn’t going to write a check, his argument is crap and he’s a hypocrite.

Buffett’s argument is that everyone in the upper tax brackets should be paying higher taxes. Just because Buffett doesn’t voluntarily choose to pay the higher tax rate is irrelevant to his claim that everyone ought to.

Here is the video:

H/T: The Non Sequitur.