Why Headlines Are Dangerous

In the Tampa Tribune this morning, there is a very interesting article about property tax reform in Florida. That's if you actually read the article. On the front page, there is a large graphic that tells the reader all about the average savings from the three proposed plans.

One from the Republicans, one from the Democrats, and one from Governor Charlie Crist.

The GOP and Crist would save us somewhere between $422 and $586.

The Democrats would save us $1,860.

No brainer, right?

Well, you actually have to read the article. The Tribune comes out and says (about halfway through the article) that their savings projections for the GOP plan does not include... half of the GOP plan.

The half of the GOP plan where property taxes are COMPLETELY ELIMINATED.

The plan isn't the problem, because it looks like Florida homeowners will save money no matter what happens. The problem is the fact that 90% of the people in Tampa are going to look at the headline and decide that the Democratic plan is 4-5 times as good as any other plan.

When in fact, it is vastly inferior.

I guess the moral of the story is to not trust headlines... but my guess is that the people who rely on headlines probably aren't reading some meaningless blog.