Amount of money the top-400 U.S. taxpayers donated to charity in 2000.
$146 Billion
Total amount in charitable contributions that Americans deducted on their
income tax returns in 2000.
That IS sad and shows who Americans really think about when their pockets are full. Gosh, The sick part isn't the greed of not giving more but lying about the giving for personal gain. It nullifies all.
Posted by: Sallie at January 1, 2004 9:39 PMSallie, he's reported on two entirely different numbers. The $146B represents the deductions of *ALL* Americans, not just the top 400 earners. I'm sure that a great number of people only give to charties for tax purposes, but let's please look honestly at the numbers because they are VERY different statistics.
Posted by: MixMasterMatt at January 2, 2004 10:47 AMI think her point is valid. They are different numbers but not unrelated in this context.
Posted by: Doug at January 27, 2004 1:01 PMThis statistic tells us only that the top 400 taxpayers made 7% of all charitable contributions that year. What we don't know is what percentage of income (or of wealth, or some such relevant statistic) those same 400 taxpayers made. If it was higher than 7%, then we can without argument conclude they're disproportionately stingy. But even if they made less than 7% of our total income, most of their income is obscenely in excess of what they could possibly spend, let alone need, so I'm sure we have still have cause to grumble.
Posted by: Stan at May 5, 2004 11:02 AMIf you ain't rich, then you ain't working hard enough....
Posted by: at September 28, 2004 5:53 PM