A link to all candidates tax records It seems that someone forgot to tell governer Palin that her per diem earnings count as income as she has not reported it yet. Wooops.... Also, it looks like not everyone is great at charitable giving - I am looking at you Joe Biden. DD
I'd like to have the spouses release their tax records as well. If Kerry was given flack for it, so should McCain.
I wonder what it would look like if, instead of charity/AGI, it was charity/(income of household). I suspect that how much you are willing to give to charity would be more dependent on the wealth at your disposal, rather than your particular earnings that year.
Regardless, studies have shown that so-called conservatives are much more generous when it comes to charity and donating to the less fortunate than so-called liberals. In the end, we know that McCain isn't really giving around 20-30 percent but he still is giving a huge chunk of change, as has Obama over the last two years. I can't speak for what either of them gave before because I can't find the link I had that outlined that. Regardless of what metric you use, Biden giving 0.3 and 0.2 percent of his AGI to charitable causes sort of eliminates any high ground he would have in claiming that taxing the wealthy more to help the less fortunate is patriotic. It's always easier to donate other people's money, isn't it? Also, Palin has released a statement saying that she relied on the state of Alaska's determination that her per diem did not constitute income so take that however you will.
A lot of people don't report all that they give on their taxes. I don't think we should judge either way. just sayin.
I'm not sure why you'd report some and not all, though. If Biden's taxes showed zero given to charity, I'd assume that he just doesn't wish to report charitable contributions. I'm not judging him because of the small amount he's reported to have donated. I'm judging him because he repeatedly calls for taxes on the rich to benefit the less fortunate when he doesn't seem to be doing his share. I don't think anyone should be forced to donate anything to anybody. Biden is under no obligation to give ANY of his money away. However, when you spend a lot of your time on the campaign trail talking of the greed of others and claiming that paying higher taxes is patriotic because it helps the less fortunate, your charitable contributions become enlightening, at the very least.
