Romney's Charitable Giving

If charitable giving is a measure of one's concern for others, than Mitt and Ann Romney have the Obamas and the Bidens beat by far.

From Politico:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was far more generous to charities than President Barack Obama or Vice President Joe Biden last year, both in dollar terms and as a percentage of income, tax return data Romney’s campaign released Friday indicate.

Romney and his wife, Ann, gave 29.4 percent of their income to charity in 2011, donating $4,020,772 out of the $13,696,951 they took in.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama gave 21.8 percent of their income to charitable organizations last year, donating $172,130 out of the $789,674 they made.

Biden and his wife, Jill, gave 1.5 percent of their income away in 2011, with charitable donations totaling $5,540 out of $379,035.

Republicans have mocked Obama and especially Biden for being unusually tight-fisted when it comes to making charitable gifts.

When the Obama campaign released past tax returns for Biden in 2008, it was revealed that the Bidens donated just $3,690 to charity over 10 years — an average of $369 a year.

...Romney didn’t deduct all of his charitable donations for last year. He left $1.8 million in donations off his return in order to live up to a statement he made about always having paid at least a 13 percent tax rate on his income. With his charity write-offs partially held back, Romney overshot that mark a bit for 2011, paying at a 14.1 percent rate.

Read more about the charitable giving history of Obama.

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 made their church, Trinity United Church of Christ, one of the biggest beneficiaries of their philanthropy, donating $27,500. Obama is under scrutiny for his ties to the church because of comments made by its senior pastor.

The tax returns, 103 pages for all seven years released today, show the couple didn't begin claiming an itemized deduction for donations to the church until 2005, when they donated $5,000. They gave $22,500 a year later.

Angila Faison, a spokeswoman for the church, said it encourages its members to give 10 percent of their income to the church based on biblical instructions.

Read about Biden's disgraceful giving history.

Last Friday, Sen. Joseph Biden, the Democratic candidate for vice president, released his tax returns for the years 1998 to 2007. The returns revealed that in one year, 1999, Biden and his wife Jill gave $120 to charity out of an adjusted gross income of $210,979. In 2005, out of an adjusted gross income of $321,379, the Bidens gave $380. In nine out of the ten years for which tax returns were released, the Bidens gave less than $400 to charity; in the tenth year, 2007, when Biden was running for president, they gave $995 out of an adjusted gross income of $319,853.

Here is a chart of the Bidens’ giving for the years covered by the tax returns:

Adjusted Gross Income - Charity

1998 - $215,432 - $195

1999 - $210,797 - $120

2000 - $219,953 - $360

2001 - $220,712 - $360

2002 - $227,811 - $260

2003 - $231,375 - $260

2004 - $234,271 - $380

2005 - $321,379 - $380

2006 - $248,459 - $380

2007 - $319,853 - $995

Total - $2,450,042 - $3,690

“The average American household gives about two percent of adjusted gross income,” says Arthur Brooks, the Syracuse University scholar, soon to take over as head of the American Enterprise Institute, who has done extensive research on American giving. “On average, [Biden] is not giving more than one tenth as much as the average American household, and that is evidence that he doesn’t share charitable values with the average American.”

What matters here is the percentage of income donated to charity.

The Romneys share a dramatically higher percentage of their income through charitable gifts than the Obamas or the Bidens.

I guess in comparison that makes the Obamas and Bidens look selfish and greedy, clinging to their wealth.