Carlos Bastarache: jenna-fisher.jpg

do you like going to work? Me neither! See how I got around that and got paid too!

NBC

Over the holiday weekend, The Office star Jenna Fischer came under fire for a tweet about the GOP’s largely unpopular tax bill. Fischer took particular umbrage with the provision for teachers to be able to deduct classroom supplies. “I can’t stop thinking about how school teachers can no longer deduct the cost of their classroom supplies on their taxes,” she wrote on Saturday. “Something they shouldn’t have to pay for with their own money in the first place. I mean, imagine if nurses had to go buy their own syringes.”

I can't stop thinking about how school teachers can no longer deduct the cost of their classroom supplies on their taxes…something they shouldn't have to pay for with their own money in the first place. I mean, imagine if nurses had to go buy their own syringes. #ugh

— Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) December 23, 2017

Unfortunately, Fischer’s tweet was not entirely accurate, as a $250 deduction for school supplies was one of the few things untouched in the bill. Her tweet quickly went viral, with over 65,000 retweets and 220,000 likes at the time of this writing, which led to many people — journalists and Trumpers, in particular — piling on her to inform her of her error.

It was capped at $250 before the bill. It’s still capped at $250. Nothing changed. You are misleading people.

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) December 24, 2017

This isn’t true. Even @CNN says so. pic.twitter.com/hUiOVsl494

— Austen Fletcher (@fleccas) December 24, 2017

.@jennafischer's tweet is factually wrong. Teachers will still enjoy these deductions. Jenna should do her homework before tweeting. https://t.co/QjRbrOmFnw

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) December 25, 2017

Attention, teachers: You can keep your deduction for classroom supplieshttps://t.co/eiQnE1nRul

— kerry (@K1erry) December 24, 2017

Me, direct to camera: "Maybe this fact will put @jennafischer's mind at ease, and maybe she'll correct her tweet for her followers." ::shrugs adorably:: https://t.co/IhoOhkWPsZ

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 24, 2017

This deduction was not eliminated in the bill that passed. Given that you have hundreds of thousands of followers, don’t you have a responsibility to make sure you’re not giving them false information?

Please consider at least deleting and tweeting a correction.

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) December 24, 2017

I don’t want to fight with Pam from The Office, but this is not true. Final tax bill kept the $250 school supplies deduction https://t.co/8ZavNj5V5z https://t.co/c6AMoVqcg3

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) December 24, 2017

They actually decided to keep the cost deduction, there were talks about doing away with it and i think there was a suggestion to make $500 instead of $250 but voted to keep it $250 and the deduction stays

— Rachel O'Reilly (@RachelOReilly11) December 24, 2017

Fischer eventually posted an update to clarify her first tweet, noting that while she acknowledges that she had some “facts wrong,” $250 does not even come close to what many teachers are forced to spend out of pocket on their students, according to a survey conducted by Scholastic in 2016 — particularly in schools with a high poverty rate.

Thanks for your tweets! I had some facts wrong. Teachers surveyed by Scholastic in 2016 personally spent an average of $530 on school supplies for students. Teachers who worked at high-poverty schools spent an average of $672. The tax deduction was capped at $250.

— Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) December 25, 2017

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