Charitable Gifts by Politicians Add Up, For Some

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden has come under criticism in recent weeks for his charitable giving — or, more specifically, the lack of it. The Delaware senator and his wife, Jill, showed annual earnings of more than $200,000 and sometimes $300,000 between 1998 and 2007. And they gave relatively very little of it away. In 2007, their most generous year, the Bidens gave $995 to charity. In 1999, their charitable donations added up to $120. Click here to see Joe Biden’s tax returns. A spokesman for Biden has been quoted by National Review Online as saying that the Bidens’ tax returns do not reveal the extent of the their giving, noting that they regularly give to their church and volunteer their time. The tax returns do not reveal which charities benefited from the Bidens’ donations. Biden’s Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has yet to release her tax returns. So how do the other candidates stack up? Plenty of information is ... (link)