President Obama's odd charitable giving

President Obama gave very little to charity before he decided to enter national politics and run for President. Barack and Michelle only gave 0.4% to charity in 2002. President Obama claims to be a Christian, but he isn't putting his money where his mouth is. An examination of Barack and Michelle's 12 year charitable giving finds they gave less than less than a quarter of a percent to churches. The charitanble giving has really kicked up since Obama was elected President. Many of the charities they favor seem to be black oriented; CARE (Africa), United Negro College Fund and the Congressional Black Caucus. It's almost like there is something political about Obama's charity...

(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.

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