Romney gave 15% to charity vs Obama's 1%. Discuss

Obama made quite a bit less than Romney over the years. Its much easier to give a larger portion of earnings to charity, the more you make.

DNAXY wrote:

Obama made quite a bit less than Romney over the years. Its much easier to give a larger portion of earnings to charity, the more you make.

Completely lame. During the years 2000-4, my family made just about the same income as the Obamas, yet gave anywhere from 20-40K/year more that he did. Give me a break. It is about priorities. Obama talks the big talk, yet until it helped him political was a completely selfish, uncaring cheapskate. So much for his concern for the "little people".

To the anti-Obama crowd-

"Yes! Yesss! Oh, let me taste your tears...Mm, your tears are so yummy and sweet!"-Eric Cartman

thanks for the anecdotal evidence! It was really enlightening.

Choosing to give your money to charities instead of the government is not impressive and doesn't make you a generous person.

Both Washington and Lincoln payed 0% in income taxes and gave no money to charity... what shitty presidents!

The Moron church is not a charity, rather it's a registered hate group.

you guys are hilarious wrote:

Choosing to give your money to charities instead of the government is not impressive and doesn't make you a generous person.

Completely disagree. Giving to the government isn't impressive. As a taxpayer, you are forced to give to the government - a government that has a history of wasting it.

On the other hand, as a donor, you are free to study that charity and determine its worthiness. When someone gives to charity, it is indeed generous because you aren't forced to do it or face going to jail.

How much do you give to charity?

[quote]draftee wrote:

Hate to break it to you, but he gave the vast majority of those "charitable contributions" to his church - the Mormon church.

Much like those uber rich people who send billions over to Israel and take it as a charitable tax deduction

you guys are hilarious wrote:

Choosing to give your money to charities instead of the government is not impressive and doesn't make you a generous person.

are you serious? wrote:

Completely disagree. Giving to the government isn't impressive. As a taxpayer, you are forced to give to the government - a government that has a history of wasting it.

On the other hand, as a donor, you are free to study that charity and determine its worthiness. When someone gives to charity, it is indeed generous because you aren't forced to do it or face going to jail.

But for the majority of Americans, donating to charity is a reallocation of where there funds are going, not an addition to what they would legally owe. For example, Bob paid 3% of his AGI to charity and 26% of his AGI to taxes, as opposed to paying 0% of AGI to charity and 29% to taxes.

since when is the Mormon Church a "charitable" organization?

As far as I know they use the 10% of the income of their members to go out and brainwash more people so they can then give 10% to the church and the cycle continues until infinity.

that is good news wrote:

Completely lame. During the years 2000-4, my family made just about the same income as the Obamas, yet gave anywhere from 20-40K/year more that he did. Give me a break. It is about priorities. Obama talks the big talk, yet until it helped him political was a completely selfish, uncaring cheapskate. So much for his concern for the "little people".

Meanwhile during those same years of 2000-2004, there is no evidence that Romney gave a single cent to charity.

No, Romney used every trick to lower his tax rate, rather than paying "what was owed." And then to what charity did Romney give most of that money? The Mormon Church. Ultimately, Democrats recognize that money given to charity is largely wasted for want of the ability of collective action on a vast scale. Taxation is far better applied to problem solving. Charities solve no problems, although they help some people in some instances.

jjjjjjj wrote:

No, Romney used every trick to lower his tax rate, rather than paying "what was owed." And then to what charity did Romney give most of that money? The Mormon Church. Ultimately, Democrats recognize that money given to charity is largely wasted for want of the ability of collective action on a vast scale. Taxation is far better applied to problem solving. Charities solve no problems, although they help some people in some instances.

Are you saying Obama foolishly spent - "largely wasted" in your words - 14.2% of his money in 2010 when he donated to charity? You are saying that Obama wastes money?

And that is because government is a much more efficient vehicle for alleviating (not causing) societal ills?

How old are you?

When you look at the statistics from various (developed) countries, high levels of charitable giving (and low taxation) correspond to low levels of social equality (and vice versa).

Personally, I'd prefer to live in a place where the government had the balls to set taxes high enough to ensure social equality at home and, as much as possible, abroad too.

But, then again, I'm from the UK, where so few people donate to churches that they're falling down!

BritishRunner wrote:

Personally, I'd prefer to live in a place where the government had the balls to set taxes high enough to ensure social equality at home and, as much as possible, abroad too.

You believe that not only should you take as much as possible of someone else's property in your once great country, but also, "as much as possible", you wish to extend the blessings of high taxes and "social equality" around the world.

You probably should define "social equality" so that the charitable-giving rubes in the colonies know what you're talking about.

In your Marxist arrogance, you've probably overlooked the countries throughout history that made "social equality" their highest goal.

France during the Revolutionary Terror

The USSR during its 70 year reign of Terror

North Korea, whose all encompassing Terror exists today

Communist China during the rule of Mao

Cuba

Cambodia

Etc.

They all certainly had the "balls" to set their taxes high.

So Romney gave more to the Mormon Church than he did to the U.S. government?

Why does he hate America?

So what percentage did you all donate to charity? I'm sure everyone here was giving 30-40%. That's just the LR way.