Originally Posted By wahooskipper I am acutally issuing praise for the Obama's. Don't all stop breathing. On the $2.73 million in earned income last year the Obama's donated to charity $172,000...about 6.5% of their adjusted gross income. CARE and UNCF were large recipients of their charitable giving. His income was generated largely from book sales, so more power to him. Now, the somewhat discouraging news is that the Biden's return was a little embarassing. On $269,256 they contributed about $1900 to charity...or less than 1% of their adjusted gross income. This is a step in the right direction though as news during the campaign was that they had contributed an average of about $350 a year to charity. Biden's folks are trying to spin it some; saying that they donated time and other non-monetary items to charity. You can be the judge of that. I bring this up because charitable contributions are down at a time when they are most needed. It is obvious why that is the case but if you, like Obama, have the MEANS to make donations right now I would call upon you to act on that regardless of the charity. A little credit where credit is due today for our Presidential family.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>I bring this up because charitable contributions are down at a time when they are most needed. It is obvious why that is the case but if you, like Obama, have the MEANS to make donations right now I would call upon you to act on that regardless of the charity.<< I second that. I have $25 a month donated to a local food bank. I just absolutely hate to see people begging for food, and it's gotten worse.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<but if you, like Obama, have the MEANS to make donations right now I would call upon you to act on that regardless of the charity.>> I know you're not doing this wahoo, but this statement made me think of something. Why is it ok to try and guilt people into giving away their money to charities, but not ok to tax them? Republicans seem to get all bent out of shape over the idea of the government forcing rich people to give their money away, but then they turn right around and demand that the wealthy should hand their money over to charities. And if the rich don't give enough to charity, their ridiculed and basically harassed into giving more. So why not just tax them and get it over with?
Originally Posted By DAR ^^^ If I give my money to a private charity, I at least have an idea of what money is going to. And I can feel some comfort in that. Of course it doesn't always work out that way. But with taxes sure it might go towards things I support like education, roads and the military. But what if it goes to some stupid pet project that some congressman wants.
Originally Posted By Mr X How do you know the Bidens (or the Obamas for that matter) didn't donate more money to charity anonymously or otherwise without claiming it on their tax returns? It's certainly not required. Is it any of our business? How do you know they didn't simply send anonymous gifts, or donate on the street to worthy causes or something? (oh, and they also donated time, as they mentioned...that's not nothing) I've donated a realsonable amount of money to the Kobe earthquake relief fund over the years. But you won't see it on my tax forms. Why? Because I've always given 10-100 bucks to people on the street representing the fund, many many times. I have no clue what percentage of my income it represents, and it's not something I care about "claiming" per se (just making a point here), but it's a charity that concerns me and I give whatever I can. I don't try to claim it on my taxes, nor could I (not very easily, anyway). That's just one example. Just sayin.....
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Well, as a Republican...at least in name...I give to charity willingly because I have the firm belief that the charities I choose are going to spend my money more efficiently and on specific need FAR better than the government would. I have an aunt who is the executive director of a food bank in Indiana. I'd much rather give her $100 than give the government $100. Most of her $100 is going to go to food for the needy. I'd be lucky if $5 of my $100 given to the government would go to that worthy cause. I guess the bottom line is, when you give to charity you have a high level of confidence about where that money is going. I gave more money to charity in '08 than Biden did and I make less than a third of what he does. That doesn't smack of strong leadership...but, then again, he ain't the President. Again, good on Obama.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper If you are going to go to the trouble of claiming ANY charitable contributions then I think you are going to claim them all. These guys have good accountants. I suspect Biden grew sensitive to the criticism that came out during the campaign and stepped it up a little bit in the last three months. Which again, that is something. But, he does look like a small man next to the President...at least in my eyes.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "His income was generated largely from book sales, so more power to him." And a good chunk of his book money came from an advance payment on a book he's writing (I believe it's the children's abridged version of The Audacity of Hope). He's not planning on writing the book until after he leaves office, either in 4 or 8 years (which I applaud him for, since there will be bigger things for him to do during that time), but he got paid early for it so he wouldn't have to pay the higher taxes that he is planning on forcing on everybody else. Classy guy.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<But what if it goes to some stupid pet project that some congressman wants.>> That's always a risk I supposse, but as we can see in the differences between Obama's and Biden's charitable giving, you can't really relay on people to give money to charity. But then people complain and moan that these people aren't giving enough - so why not just cut the crap and tax them already? (I should point out that I'm not really sure where I stand on this issue - I just find it odd that people complain that the rich aren't giving enough to charity, but don't want to force them to give more in taxes.)
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Well, I didn't want this to be an Obama bashing thread. (Biden bashing, no problem.) But, I think advance payments on bood writing are pretty standard practice in the book business so I'm not sure you can assume he took that payment specifically to avoid the higher taxes he was going to impose. I think he took the payment not knowing if he would become President or not. I think it is a leap to call it more than that and, I must admit, would be outside his character.
Originally Posted By hopemax A few things... The advance was agreed to on Jan 15. So he knew he would be President. But it also isn't part of his 2008 taxes. There are 2 books involved. First, the children's book. Which the publisher is abridging and Obama is signing off on. It's for this project the advance was given. And the publisher is receiving half of the $500k advance (it's doing the lionshare of the work). I believe this book will be out much sooner than before Obama leaves office; but no publishing date appears to be given. The second book, is a non-fiction book that will be published after he leaves office. But he has not received any advance money for this project.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Now, the somewhat discouraging news is that the Biden's return was a little embarassing. On $269,256 they contributed about $1900 to charity...or less than 1% of their adjusted gross income. This is a step in the right direction though as news during the campaign was that they had contributed an average of about $350 a year to charity.<< I'm going to defend Biden here. For someone who has to maintain a home in an expensive part of the country and then commute to a city with one of the highest costs of living, an income of $269,000 isn't all that much. Don't misunderstand me - Biden's plenty well off. But he lives and works in very expensive parts of the country. His job requires him and his wife to keep nice (though not outlandish) wardrobes, and otherwise maintain a fairly high standard of living. It's a lose/lose situation for our elected leaders. We don't want them to be extravagant but we certainly don't want them to look cheap or "average." Hey, maybe the guy is a cheapskate. I'm happy to hear a more in-depth analysis of his expenses and where his income goes. Maybe he could be donating more to charity. But let's not mistake $250,000 for 2.5 million. And the percentage of how much he donates is irrelevant. If Bill Gates donates 10 billion of 20 billion, he's donated 50% to charity. If someone who makes 20,000 a year donates 1%, that's 2,000 - a huge sacrifice.
Originally Posted By DAR <<Hey, maybe the guy is a cheapskate>> I'll bet he stiffs Obama with the bill when they go out to dinner.
Originally Posted By inlandemporer My wife and I both have very middle class jobs and are putting three kids through school. We did better than Biden on charity, even in pure dollar amounts, let alone percentage. I hope he donated a lot of time.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder My God, Biden is serving his country through public office and we're getting on him for not donating his compensation for that to charity? Unreal.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<My God, Biden is serving his country through public office and we're getting on him for not donating his compensation for that to charity? Unreal.>> Thank You - well said!!!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad >>>$269,000 isn't all that much<<< Funny, becuase it's Biden, (who now has ZERO personal expenses and will have for the rest of his life) and not the "rich guy" living in the country club, who works 70 hours a week to pay for a home and send his kids to private school... it's somehow justified? Please.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad >>> But let's not mistake $250,000 for 2.5 million. And the percentage of how much he donates is irrelevant. <<< >>> If someone who makes 20,000 a year donates 1%, that's 2,000 - a huge sacrifice.<<< Apply this to taxes...this way of thinking is exactly what is what's wrong with the current tax code. "Hey he can afford it, after all, what's 50% of a billion?"
Originally Posted By DVC_dad My God, Biden is serving his country through public office and we're getting on him for not donating his compensation for that to charity? Unreal. Of course he is serving his country, and VP of the US does not have a single benefit whatsoever. Forget this is one step shy of his life's dream in power, title, and position...and suddenly now Biden isn't "rich" either.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Same old-------> "the rules should apply to everyone but "us" because we are being victimized." Poor pitiful Joe.
