Candidate Taxes And Charitable Giving

A couple of the prime beliefs of Republicans, including the presidential candidates, are that the rich are taxed too much and the federal government should not be helping poor people. They believe it is through private charities that the poor should be helped. Those kind of beliefs open them up to examination, to see if they live up to their words -- and that is just what The Washington Post has done. They took the candidate tax returns and pulled from it the income, the taxes paid, and the charitable donations made. Here is what they found:

MITT AND ANN ROMNEY
adjusted gross income -- $21,646,507
taxes paid -- $3,009,766
tax rate -- 13.90%
charitable donations -- $2,983,974
charitable percentage -- 13.79%

RICK AND KAREN SANTORUM
adjusted gross income -- $923,411
taxes paid -- $263,442
tax rate -- 28.53%
charitable donations -- $16,289
charitable percentage -- 1.76%

NEWT AND CALLISTA GINGRICH
adjusted gross income -- $3,142,066
taxes paid -- $994,708
tax rate -- 31.66%
charitable donations -- $81,133
charitable percentage -- 2.58%

RON PAUL has still refused to release his tax returns. He is still trying to hide his income, tax rate, and charitable donations from the voters. I was going to say he should be ashamed of trying to hide these, but maybe he is ashamed -- of how much he made and how little he paid in taxes and gave in charitable donations.

The Romneys come out looking pretty good in how much they gave in charitable donations. About 13.79% is not bad. Where they fall down is in the tax rate they paid. Paying only a 13.90% tax rate after making over $21 million is pathetic.

It is just the opposite for the Santorums and Gingrichs. They paid a decent tax rate, but their charitable giving left a lot to be desired (especially since they think private charities should be the only ones to help the poor). Neither one gave as much as 3%.

Naturally this brings up the question of how these Republican candidates compare to President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. Actually the Obamas come out looking best of all -- paying a decent tax rate and giving a good percentage to charity. Here are their figures:

BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA
adjusted gross income -- $1,728,096
taxes paid -- $453,770
tax rate -- 26.26%
charitable donations -- $245,075
charitable percentage -- 14.18%