Week 6- EOC Tax Cuts

If someone is listening to a spokesperson or reading an article that is written in an opinion they are more likely to be swayed in the direction of the speaker. That is why a lot of the time people speak with opinion as opposed to speaking with facts. They are trying to persuade the listener in a certain direction.

“Congress must make the 2001 and 2003 middle class tax cuts permanent in order to create a stable economic environment for our small business families. With Nevada sitting at a shocking 14.2 percent unemployment rate, we need to enact and sustain any incentives that allow the private sector to flourish and get Nevadans back to work.” This quote was pulled from an article written by Steve Tetreault from the Washington Bureau. In this entire article the basic question that Steve is trying to answer is should the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 be extended or should they be expired. Steve, the person writing the article, obviously has an agenda because you can tell by the style of his writing and the content of his article that he favors the tax cuts being extended. This is a quote that is placed in the article that helps support Steve’s view. “I would think with the economic downturn you would expect there would be a larger portion of the citizenry that would like the tax cuts to continue.”-said Gonzales. If quotes like this are being presented in the article along with no opposing quotes viewers see the quotes as facts rather than viewing them as a basic opinion. Steve also included facts in his article that ONLY supported his view on the question of tax cuts. An example of this is the following quote. “The average middle income family in Nevada would save $1530 on their 2011taxes if the tax cuts are extended-according to a study this month by the non partisan tax foundation. “ In that quote he is proving to middle class families that if they do vote for the tax cuts to be extended they will be saving a great deal of money. By letting the reader know that the study was conducted by a non partisan group it helps the reader subconsciously think the writer of the article is also non partisan in their views.

In conclusion many articles are written in opinion. These articles are usually answering a basic question or reviewing a generic problem. They are written in a certain way to persuade the viewer to favor a certain side.