Joe Biden says that the patriotic thing to do is pay taxes. Hunh…I seem to remember taxes having something to do with the American Revolution, so maybe he’s got something there…
On the other hand, giving to charities clearly isn’t patriotic at all, right Senator Biden?
If anyone thinks that the government isn’t taking enough of your money, you can donate to the United States here. I’m sure that echoing silence you hear is the sound of all of the Democrats writing checks to our government.
Tai-Chi Policy 
Taoist,
Here’s something I sent to my parents recently.
Sir Mungus
I can’t believe that Democratic politicians who have presidential ambitions don’t have the basic sense to contribute well to charities. Joe Biden gave $995 to charity last year (almost triple his $369/year average over the last decade), on income of $319,000. Note that Biden’s total annual contributions include $360 in 2001, $380 in 2004, and $380 in 2005, years in which most people I knew were giving sacrificially to help victims of 9/11, the tsunami, and Katrina. Given the consistency of those numbers, it is highly suggestive that he gives the same amounts to the same organizations annually, with a strong implication that he didn’t give a dime charitably in any of those three disasters. Does someone need to be a Republican to consider that shameful? Do you doubt that if someone looked hard enough they would find video of him encouraging people to give to the Red Cross after those disasters? Granted, there is a slim possibility that he gave without reporting it on his taxes, but do you really think so?
Obama was marginally better. From 2000-2004, he averaged about $2200 giving on income averaging about $240,000. Then, in the last two years (presidential aspiration years), he had the good sense to give $77K and $60K on incomes of $1.6M and $1.0M, for a respectable 5% rate. More savvy than Biden (and Gore from years past, and Kerry, until he was shamed by his $0 giving years). It is interesting to note his giving in 2000-2004 is low enough that it does not really reflect being a “member” of Trinity United Church. I don’t know why he didn’t just own up earlier to be an occasional attender (as he did in the O’Reilly interview). Would have saved himself a lot of trouble.
For just a little more perspective on this, here are the IRS statistics for average giving based upon adjusted gross income:
o $15,000-$30,000 AGI: $1,916 average charitable deduction
o $30,000-$50,000 AGI: $2,158 average charitable deduction
o $50,000-$100,000 AGI: $2,703 average charitable deduction
o $100,000-$200,000 AGI: $4,057 average charitable deduction
o $200,000 or more of AGI: $20,434 average charitable deduction
In other words, there is no published AGI income level that averages as little as Biden has given over the last 10 years, and Obama was well below the averages for his AGI bracket until the last two years.
Yeah.
I’m not surprised Obama and Biden give so little. I’ve seen a similar study that shows that you can pretty much track the charity of a state by the percentage of voters that are Republican vs. Democrats. I don’t think its because the right is better than the left, though. I think instead it shows a difference in philosophies: the left expects government to take care of troubled situations, and the right expects people to either help themselves but need occasional charity to cover emergency situations.
Given the performance record of government vs the performance record of most charities, I know which group I’d put my money with – if, you know, I wasn’t living off of student loans.