Biden Wants You to be Generous; He's Not

[deacon blues]

Biden says its time for us to step up to the plate and do our patriotic duty and give more in taxes. Well, he seems to be willing to get generous with other people's money. Unfortunately he doesn't practice what he preaches. From Byron York's article on National Review online:

"It has become a common practice, when a presidential candidate releases his or her tax returns, for reporters and pundits to examine how much the candidate gave to charity. In September 1992, for example, when the Washington Post reported that Al Gore, then the Democratic candidate for vice president, had released his tax returns, the second paragraph in the story noted that out of income of $183,558, Gore “donated $1,727 — less than 1 percent — to charity.” Other stories about other candidates routinely included figures on charitable giving.

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

To take Biden’s worst year, 1999, one percent of his adjusted gross income would have been $2,100. One half of one percent would have been $1,050. One quarter of one percent would have been $525. One eighth of one percent would have been $262. And one sixteenth of one percent would have been $131 — still a bit more than the Bidens gave.

To take Biden’s best year, 2007, one percent of his adjusted gross income would have been $3,190. One half of one percent would have been $1,595. One quarter of one percent would have been $797 — a figure Biden surpassed by nearly $200.

Looking at the ten-year total of Biden’s giving, one percent would have been $24,500. One half of one percent would have been $12,250. One quarter of one percent would have been $6,125. And one eighth of one percent would have been $3,062 — just below what Biden actually contributed.

“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.”

Now Biden is proposing to take the pension money of Wall Street CEOs. Fair enough (even though its scary that the gov't would start to get into the business of confiscating of anyone's pension). But if they are going to punish Wall Street types in this way, then they sure as heck better confiscate the pensions of Congress (snowball's chance).

How is it that those who propose how we need to be more willing than ever to "step up to the plate" and be "fair" oftentimes are less than generous themselves? Yeah its easy to spend other people's money, but when faced with "stepping up to the plate", they'd prefer to remain in the dugout.

[TRFrance]

Seems that Liberal politicians are very good at giving away other people's money.

But their own money?... not so much.

[Pragmatist]

I guess it's patriotic to pay taxes, but not patriotic to be charitable.

[Sam]

It would be interesting to see figures like that, i.e. adjusted gross income and charitable contributions, for Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin.