Reply #94: More evidence of Obama disconnect between rhetoric and reality: the charity thing

[amborin]

The Frontrunner
April 25, 2007 Wednesday
Before 2005, Obama's Charitable Giving Lagged Behind National Average

SECTION: NATIONAL CAMPAIGN NEWS
The Chicago Tribune (4/25, Secter, 617K) reports, "Giving, service and compassion are
but the Democratic presidential contender has only recently dug deep into his own pockets to support charitable causes." Obama "has enjoyed a robust household income throughout his political career in the Illinois Senate and the U.S. Senate.

But for most of that time he has reported comparatively little by national standards in charitable contributions on his tax returns, records released by Obama show." Obama's household income "has been inflated the last two years from the proceeds of lucrative book deals he signed shortly before entering the Senate in 2005. He pledged to turn over $200,000 of the book money to charity." On their "just-filed 2006 tax return, Obama and his wife, a hospital administrator, reported taxable income of $983,626 and claimed deductions for $60,307 in charitable donations.

In 2005 they earned a combined $1.65 million and gave away about $77,300." The "national average for charitable giving has long hovered at 2.2 percent of household income, according to the Glenview-based Giving USA Foundation, which tracks trends in philanthropy. Obama tax returns dating to 1997 show he fell well below that benchmark until 2005, the year he arrived in Washington."