The Widow’s Mite:
Obama Gave the Church Less Than ½ Percent
of $18 Million Income Over 12 Years
(The Christian Post) — An analysis of 12 years of tax returns recently released by President Barack Obama from 2000 to 2011 shows that the First Family donated 1.4 percent or less of their income to charity until he began to run for the U.S. Senate in 2004, and gave only nominal amounts to the church except for substantial donations to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity Church of Christ in 2006 and 2007.
The analysis performed by The Christian Post shows that from 2000 to 2011, the Obamas reported an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $18,677,610, of which they paid $5,794,492, or 31 percent, in taxes. Almost this entire amount was taxed as ordinary income based on the particular bracket the Obamas fell into from year-to-year, as compared to the 15 percent tax rate on long-term investment income that many individuals who have significant investment income, such as GOP candidate Mitt Romney, pay.
Over the same 12-year period, President and Mrs. Obama gave $1.3 million to various charities, ranging from a low of $1,050, or .4 percent of their income in 2002, to $172,130, or 21.8 percent of their income in 2011. Overall, from 2000 to 2011, the Obamas gave 6.9 percent of their AGI to charity, and less than a quarter of a percent was reported as donated to churches.
A few of the charities that received substantial gifts from the Obamas include CARE, Habitat for Humanity, Fisher House, United Negro College Fund and the Congressional Black Caucus.
During the five year period from 2000 to 2004, the Obamas’ tax return did not list a breakdown of charitable contributions because the total amount was often less than 1 percent.
Assuming that for the first five years the Obamas did as least much contributing to the church as they did from 2005 on, the First Couple would have given a total of $62,955 to various churches for the 12-year period, amounting to .3 percent of their AGI. Of that total amount, $53,770 was given to Wright’s church.
The president stopped donating to Wright’s church completely in 2008 when controversy grew over whether Wright’s black liberation theology had affected the president. Prior to that, the Obamas gave a total of $53,770 to Wright’s church over a three-year period from 2005 to 2007. The largest contribution was for $26,270 in 2007.
Tax records show that the Obamas saw a dramatic increase in income when he began to run for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and that charitable giving directly tracks the President’s Senate and White House campaigns… READ MORE