Marcy Kaptur

Republican congressional candidate Derek Merrin says in a new attack ad that U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur voted to raise taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security.

According to the standard cleveland.com is using to fact-check ads, that claim is a lie.

The ad cites Kaptur’s vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping tax and spending package that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. But Kaptur’s vote against the bill was not a vote to raise taxes on tips, overtime pay or Social Security.

The legislation actually created new federal tax breaks for certain tip and overtime income and a temporary additional deduction for seniors that could reduce or eliminate federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for many retirees.

Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat, voted against the legislation because of its broader provisions, including major cuts to programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, alongside tax cuts benefiting corporations and high-income Americans.

The Merrin campaign’s ad reduces Kaptur’s vote on a massive, wide-ranging bill to three claims about individual tax provisions. The vote does not support those claims.

The standard for calling a political claim a lie in this fact check is whether it is supported by the facts. We also examine the sources cited by an ad; when a citation does not support the claim being made, we do not look for other sources to substantiate it.

In this case, the legislation cited by Merrin’s ad does not support the claim that Kaptur voted for higher taxes on tips, overtime pay or Social Security.

The claim is a lie.