The 1%: Obama's charity

[basso]

WHO'S GREEDY? Obama Gave 1% to Charity, Romney Gave 15%
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AP File
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign.

The Obamas increased the amount they gave to charity when their income rose in 2005 and 2006 after the Illinois senator published a bestselling book. The $137,622 they gave over those two years amounted to more than 5 percent of their $2.6 million income.

Romney charitable contributions

Tax year Taxable income Charitable donations Donations as % of income
2010 $21.7 million $2.98 million 13.73%
2011 (est) $20.9 million $4 million 19.14%



Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/mitt-romne...#ixzz1kPS10oZR

[juicystream]

I'm not sure we should judge how much people choose to donate. And personally, I'd rather see Romney's money going to better causes than the church.

[DonnyMost]

I guess you can afford to donate more when you evade taxes. Or at the very least, your donations look like a higher percentage of your income when you shelter/hide some of it elsewhere.

Can we see all years instead of picking and choosing, eh?

[Hightop]

Originally Posted by DonnyMost I guess you can afford to donate more when you evade taxes.

Or aren't forced to pay them.

[Joshfast]

That's it?

Come on bro brah you can do better. Get to searching those blogs!

[JuanValdez]

Good thing they didn't look at Obama's 2009 tax return.

[Bandwagoner]

hmmm I have Obama at 14%

700 billion/5 trillion

[Northside Storm]

I have Warren Buffett at around 50%+, should we elect him president?

I'm guessing the answer will be no from certain circles because he's a Democrat, but eh.

Also, for those people who bring out the old private charity schtick, Victorian England called, they want their laissez-faire noblesse oblige, and school-children with no arms, back.

[Depressio]

$245,000 of $1,800,000 is about 14%.

You want greedy? Look at Gingrich.

(source is CNN which used their 2010 returns)

It's funny you're using estimated 2011 returns. How about you use what they've actually filed? Or are you comparing Obama's least charitable period (you know, before he was popular) to a recent, most charitable period of Romney? How about you compare apples to apples, such as 2010 to 2010 (like the graphic above)? Or would that be too honest?

Maybe if we had tax returns for Romney/Gingrich all the way back to 2000, we'd spot them not being so charitable close to an election as well. But we don't, so don't compare now to then.

Edit: OK, it's not you being disingenuous, it's Fox News. But you're repeating them without actually looking at the situation critically. Use that noggin of yours sometimes.

[basso]

Originally Posted by TSchmal $245,000 of $1,800,000 is about 14%. You want greedy? Look at Gingrich. (source is CNN which used their 2010 returns)

assuming CNN hasn't been playing with the numbers (doubtful).

also, i pay a higher tax rate than any of them.

[bnb]

...you should give more to charity basso.

[Depressio]

Originally Posted by basso assuming CNN hasn't been playing with the numbers (doubtful). also, i pay a higher tax rate than any of them.

But you don't also assume Fox News hasn't played with them? Come on man, now you're just being ridiculous. If you're going to use Fox News as a source, you have to accept CNN as one, too. CNN, at least, has less of an agenda than Fox News but that's a completely separate discussion here.

As for the tax rates, I do as well, except for Gingrich I suppose. Romney's tax rate pisses me off. A lot. I am curious why capital gains is taxed differently...

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by basso assuming CNN hasn't been playing with the numbers (doubtful). also, i pay a higher tax rate than any of them.

If you make more than them, then why on earth are you wasting your time in here.

And if you don't, aren't you annoyed that people pay a lower tax rate the more they make?

[brantonli24]

Originally Posted by basso assuming CNN hasn't been playing with the numbers (doubtful). also, i pay a higher tax rate than any of them.

Um, the Fox one picks 2000-2004 years for Obamas and 2010 year for Romney. At least pick the same year if you are going to compare % of income to charity. Let's not beat around the bush, prospective politicians will probably ramp up their charity donations before campaigns to seem more 'friendly'.

[Mathloom]

I don't know why I find public discussion about personal charity so disturbing.

[kyle_R]

One of the few things I strongly disagree with, and there isn't a whole lot, is the Left's position on rich people's taxes. The problem isn't richy rick down the street not paying "his fair share" he already pays a ton more than i do. The issue is government spending. The only reason we want other people to pay more is because the government overextends itself. That's a government problem, not a rich person's.

[rocketsjudoka]

To follow up on Sam's post above the other problem with that argument is even if corporations that Romney owns stock in are taxed that isn't a double taxation of Mitt Romney. Following the corporate personhood argument the corporation is a separate entity from Romney and all the other shareholders. The shareholders aren't getting double taxed on dividends anymore than if I paid interest to somebody for a loan the loaner is double taxed because I pay income taxes.