Monday, September 29, 2008

Charity, give a little....

Biden Has Given Little to Charity

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has released his personal income tax records — revealing that the Delaware senator and his wife have been very stingy when it comes to charitable gifts.

The Bidens had an adjusted gross income of $319,853 in 2007, including his Senate salary, book royalties, and his wife’s salary as an English teacher.

But their charitable gifts totaled $995 — just 0.31 percent of their income, according to the TaxProf Web site.

The year before, they earned $248,859 and donated just $380, or 0.15 percent of their adjusted gross income.

Over the past decade they reported giving an average of $369 a year to charity, Bloomberg.com reports.

According to Independent Sector, the average annual charitable donation among households earning in excess of $200,000 is $20,434.

The Bidens’ “lack of charitable giving at that level of income would definitely be outside the range of what we say is normal,” Russell James, a professor at the University of Georgia who conducts research on charitable giving, told Bloomberg.

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Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s tax returns show he had an adjusted gross income of $386,527 last year and had charitable givings of $105,467, or 27.3 percent of income. His wife Cindy files separately.

His Democratic rival Barack Obama (YOUR EVERYDAY AVARAGE GUY) had $4.13 million in income in 2007 and gave $240,370, or 5.8 percent. (THAT AFTER HE REGISTER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. EVERY YEAR BEFORE THAT HE GAVE 2-3%)

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