This Presidential Election campaign season, the mainstream media has paid a great deal of attention to candidate tax returns. Now, I’d like to join the conversation by looking at the candidates’ 2011 federal tax returns.
In this post, I’m not going to suggest that one candidate is better than the other. I’m certainly not going to endorse a candidate.
While we may disagree on what the numbers mean or whether they mean much of anything at all, I suspect we’ll all agree that the numbers are interesting to look at, at least for a few moments.
From the perspective of public policy, Barack Obama wants to limit tax deductions for charitable giving. For his part, Mitt Romney has hinted that he may also seek to limit the tax deduction for charitable giving but, so far, he has not offered specifics about where he stands on the details of tax policy.
So, I thought it would be worthwhile to review how much money each candidate has contributed to the US Treasury and to the nonprofit sector.
I’ll leave it to you to decide how relevant or important this information is to your voting decision or what you think the potential impact is for the nonprofit sector.
I’ve put together the following chart based on a Fox News report that looked at candidate tax filings for 2011:
| CATEGORY |
OBAMA |
BIDEN |
ROMNEY |
RYAN |
| ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME |
$789,674 |
$379,035 |
$13,696,851 |
$342,416 |
| CHARITABLE DEDUCTION |
$172,130 |
$5,540 |
$2,250,772 |
$12,991 |
| CHARITABLE GIVING % |
21.8% |
1.5% |
16.4% |
3.8% |
| FEDERAL TAXES OWED |
$162,074 |
$87,900 |
$1,935,708 |
$64,764 |
| EFFECTIVE TAX RATE |
20.5% |
23.2% |
14.1% |
18.9% |
| GIVING + TAX % |
42.3% |
24.7% |
30.5% |
22.7% |
The Obamas gave 21.8 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity while the Romney’s gave 16.4 percent. The figures for the Romneys do not include gifts made through their family foundation. Paul Ryan and his wife donated 3.8 percent while Joe Biden and his wife donated 1.5 percent.
When looking at dollars donated, the Romneys gave more than the other candidates combined. They gave $2,250,772. The Bidens gave the least, $5,540; they also earned much less, $379,035.
The Obamas and Romneys are setting a superb philanthropic example. While their public policy might be harmful to the nonprofit sector, at least the Obamas and Romneys have been personally quite generous to the sector.
While the mainstream media has made much of the fact that the Romneys paid an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, it’s interesting to note that, when looking at taxes and donations combined, the Romneys paid/gave 30.5 percent while the Obamas paid/gave 42.3 percent. The rates paid/given by the Vice Presidential candidates were much less, 24.7 percent for the Bidens and 22.7 percent for the Ryans; the Ryans also earned the least with $342,416 in adjusted gross income.
So, what do these numbers mean, if anything? Or, perhaps I should ask, what do these numbers mean to you? What do you think the figures say about the candidates?
For my part, while I find the numbers interesting, I continue to believe that the election will be decided by much larger issues. It will certainly be interesting to see what the electorate decides. And, it will be interesting to see what the impact on the nonprofit sector will be.
That’s what Michael Rosen says… What do you say?
