BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Republican Party Biden's Uncharitable Giving

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

�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.�

I'm not buying the argument that he does all this charitable work that isn't claimed on his taxes. If he's giving any more than $1 or $2 at church they would provide tax statements for all contributions. His sons are 39- and 38-years old. His daughter is 27-years-old, so it's not like he's still putting them through college.

When we tithe, we don't take it off on our taxes and trust me, it can add up to be a lot, but we just don't do that. How can we know for sure that he doesn't tithe or give and not report it on his taxes?

Michelle, Just out of curiosity, why don't you deduct contributions on your taxes?

The only reason that I can see for not deducting contributions would be if you don't itemize but clearly Biden itemizes so this deduction is available to him.

Just that, we don't itemize. My husband doesn't think it is worth it I guess.

Michelle,
this is totally OT for this topic - but deducting your tithing and offerings can make a HUGE difference on your tax return.

We used to not claim our church tithes either, but then one year we had a professional CPA trade off doing our taxes for my hubby rebuilding her computer. Between our mortgage, claiming me and 2 kids (my other child gets claimed by his dad) and our tithing - it droppes our tax percentage from the average 30% to around 10%.

Try doing turbo-tax just one year, and take the time to itemize donations, and see what a big difference it makes.

OK - back to Biden - I haven't looked at his history yet, but does he have any charities that he's on the board of or helps run? Those might not be listed in public records on how much he donates. Just a thought. His stated donations do seem rather skimpy, but it is so hard to judge other's givings.

Yep. Depending on your situation, it may not be feasible. The reason contributions are included as a deduction is to encourage people to contribute to charitable causes. However, the deduction is only available to people that are able to itemize. In my opinion, we should make this deduction available to everyone. At one time (maybe 20 or so years ago) it was available to everyone but then the law changed.

Back to Biden, has he indicated he has donated to causes that are not reflected on his return? Have these causes (organizations) concurred his contribution? If not, then it makes it hard to argue that he has made charitable contributions that are not reflected on his tax return.

i wish there was a way to get a deduction for charitable contributions made in the form of time. I gave 20 hours a week to a radio for the blind for 3.5 years. There is no dollar amount that can be deducted. Did anyone think of time donations that he could have contributed as well?

So true! It seems like they should figure out a way to do that. Like treat the hours volunteered as negative minimum wage or something. Or just add it up as hours x minimum wage and then deduct that amount just like you would a dollar amount.

There are so many people that do give of their time, it just seems like it would be fair to reward them for doing such wonderful work!

Don't forget you can deduct mileage for charitable activities.

yes, mileage. However, you cannot deduct miles to and from the location if your donation of time is at a place, verses driving people around or delivering goods. I looked into the mileage thing. But yes, people should deduct their miles. It's a little way of getting back for giving.