The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a fascinating study out on charitable giving. The middle class gives a higher percentage of their income and folks in red states beat those in blue states, mostly because of religious giving. And if you live in an exclusive community you are less likely to be generous.
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26 Responses to Who Gives To Charity? Not Folks In Blue States
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Higher taxes means less money for charities and churches? And more money for Planned Parenthood and SEIU and AFSCME?
Who’d a thunk it?
Maybe the red states have republicans who only pay 13% in taxes like Mitt Ryan and feel proud about it?
Keep your filthy hands off my Medicare!
If you are 55 or older, under Ryans plan, no changes. Under Obamacare, too late, they have already taken $600 billion away in Medicare reimbursements. No docs are going to want you as a patient Jane!
Amen, sister! The Repubs lost my potential vote when they brought in a dude who wants to make my retirement years even more costly.
Amen is right. The Ryan Plan balances the budget in 26 years…..26 years, give me a break…and destroys Medicare and Social Security and gives the wealthy more tax breaks, meanwhile the middle class suffers. And in 26 years from now the National Debt will be close to $30 Trillion Dollars. What a Hero! How about we just go back to the Clinton tax rates!?
Why the hate? Do you really think most of these states’ residence only pay 13% taxes? Is paying 13% tax worse than John Kerry (Former D. Pres candidate)saving $500,000 by docking ultra-luxury yacht in other state. OR Chris Dodd, or Barry Frank?
sorry for grammatical errors didn’t check.
This chart could be deceiving, and should be contrasted with total giving for clarity. For example, blue states tend to have higher incomes, therefore giving 3.1% of a CT income may be fairly comparable to 6.1% of an Arkansas income, and is probably more than 4% of a Nebraska income.
No, percentage of income is the appropriate way to compare giving. Your proposal it what wouldn’t be clear.
in my proposal you would show the two side by side….showing either alone is inappropriate if you are trying to get the real picture
Bryan,
shouldn’t the higher income states donate a higher percentage? – It’s only fair.
Billy, look at Connecticut which has consistently had one of the highest per capita income, they 44th in charitiable giving (54th to the friends of Obama)
That is certainly up for debate….depends on who you are giving to I guess.
Billy; higher income states have higher costs of living, and higher taxes. But those states might contribute more than lower income states if the costs of living and taxes aren’t proportionately higher relative to income. So, there is no easy rule for fairness. And there is no proof or rationale for the Socialist redistribution of income that you may be suggesting.
Definition of Charity to a liberal = YOUR tax dollars.
Compassionate liberals, very generous with tax dollars (other people’s money) but fail miserably in the charity department. We know who the greedy people are now.
Bunch of effin hypocrites.
Oh please….talk about a narrow interpretation of the facts….I could easily counter that many of these red state “charities” are organizations that pump dollars into legislation opposing gay marriage. That is not a “charitable” contribution in my book but instead is the same as donating to the KKK…..these types of stats don’t really tell us much of anything.
Jane W ..comment on “keep your filthy hands off my Medicare”. Guess you’re OK as long as you have yours, but screw everyone else 20 years from now when it’s broke. Maybe a dose of reality once in awhile might help..
Wait, so you are telling me in states that are heavily Church-going (Alabama) give back to those churches more than those that don’t? Shocker. Correlation does not equal causation. Just because you are a republican, doesn’t mean you are more likely to give. It means you are more likely a Christian, and Christians are more likely to give back to their own Church (which, honestly shouldn’t be considered a “charity” and they should be taxed)
An interesting point made is secular vs religious giving, with New York jumping from 18th place to 2nd. Gifts to churches go for a lot of mundane things like salaries, utilities and evangelical activities before any is used for “charitable” purposes. In any case the author seems to have an ax to grind and has cherry picked his data sets to make specific points.
A study by the Urban Institute looking at IRS data reached a different conclusion. The the top four charitable states were Utah, Maryland, Connecticut and New York. The least generous: Maine, Vermont, West Virginia and North Dakota.
I guess haters gonna hate, but it’s not very charitable.
To read more about the Urban Institute’s study: http://247wallst.com/2011/12/15/americas-most-and-least-charitable-states/print/
Let’s face it – Republicans are just better people than liberal Democrats. Just witness the campaign the Dems are running if you don’t believe it.
This wrongly assumes that it is all Republicans in the Red States that give. Maybe it is all Democrats that are giving. Who lives in all the exclusive neighborhoods, that aren’t giving?
Surprising that Utah is nubmer 1. I wonder does it have something to do with the Mormon Church that requires 10% donation from its members?
Red States get more Federal Funding too.
I used to give more to the Catholic church and then they had the scandal with children which they decided to cover up. Now the church is attacking American nuns as radical feminists. Also, the few times I went to mass last year, each sermon was about fighting gay marraige and abortion, not strengthening families, helping the poor, or holding community events. I am not giving money to an institution controlled by men that wishes to persecute my gay friends, treat their partnerships unequally, and take decisions about women’s bodies away from them.
Rick Green – you left out some important points from the study. This info was gathered from IRS tax returns. They only looked at returns showing $50k or more in income, and only included people who itemized their deductions.
Dan Malloy has got his hand so far in my pocket, stealing my kids future to give to his union buddies, how in the heck can a HENRY like me give to charity or hire people.
And @jane i will be able to see any doctor i want because i will pay CASH and cut to the line. Good luck with your death panel.