Palin Gives Less Than I Thought; I was Wrong

In my post titled Palin's and Biden's Finances, I said that I guessed that and her husband gave away a good amount of their income because Palin comes from a Christian denomination known for its giving. I now stand corrected. Her records were released today and here's their income:

The Palins paid income taxes of $24,738 in 2007 based on gross income of $166,080 -- 14.9 percent of their income. In 2006, they earned a total of $127,869 in income and paid $11,944 in taxes, or 9.3 percent of their income.

And their giving:

The Palins gave $3,325 in charitable contributions in 2007, money donated to local churches and the Salvation Army, and $4,250 in charity in 2006 given to similar organizations.

2% to 3% per year. It's about what the average American gives and waaaaay more than what Biden donates, but it's waaaaay under what I estimated.

Just wanted to own up to my mistake.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Just a couple of thoughts:

1. Sarah Palin has said many times that she does not regularly attend any one church (although others disagree with this statement) but rather visits whatever local church she would feel most comfortable at depending on where she is located at the time (capital, home...). I have often given to churches when I was not regularly attending any given one and have never claimed those gifts (tithes, offerings.. what have you) on my tax return. To that end, I find tax returns to be a poor judgment of my charitable giving and maybe Palin's as well. To be fair... this would go for Biden, Obama, and McCain as well.

2. It would not surprise me if Palin did not claim her tithes and offerings to a specific church for political reasons. I haven't seen the forms but it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't claim giving to churches that some might consider to be out of the norm (the AOG church...).

Just a couple thoughts.... although, they're not thought through yet.

[Isabel]

Her giving percentage didn't strike me as odd, but her tax percentage did. 9.3 percent?? Isn't that REALLY low?

[Chris]

Don't worry, lots of people guessed a lot of things about Palin and were proven wrong!

[Jesse]

Hi Isabel,
With several kids, the Palin's taxable income is going to be much lower than their gross income. Having an average rate of 9.3% doesn't surprise me much at all.

[Gavagirl]

Jesse-- I agree, plus Alaska isn't a cheap place to live, PLUS her family has some pricey hobbies. The kinds of hunting and fishing they do are NOT cheap.

FMF-- thanks for posting this. A big reason I keep coming back here is that you seem to be an pretty honest fellow, and I love it when people prove me right!

I also want to point out that her tax return says nothing about what anyone in the Palin family may be giving to their churches or communities in terms of time. Many churches consider a time/money combination to be a perfectly reasonable way to tithe your 10% (my sister's Unitarian church comes to mind).

[John]

Don't worry, when they give a $300 billion tax cut to Wall Street banks I'm sure many of the pinstripe hedge fund managers will give a bit to charity. Maybe some of it will go to the inner city where some of their creative mortgages have ruined the lives of many.

At least she'll balance John McCain's 7 homes and multiple vehicles and private plane. After all, they do represent the middle class don't they?

[hectorartm]

Poor Palin, she ONLY makes 166k per year? When did that become 'middle-class"? Same goes for Biden! These people try to act like they are like most Americans. Well, they are not. BTW, she scares the hell out of me.

Sounds like the Palins could use some frugality.

[hectorartm]

CNN reported she spoke at a tenth grade level. She did not! Any 11th grader could tell you that. Sorry...I shouldn't get too into politics here. It's all about the $$$ :)

[aa]

166K is still "upper" middle class. The top end of "upper" middle class is 200K. There're tons of those people in California.

[Dink McDinkus]

How much did all you douche bags give this year? Yep, I thought so. Shut it.

[Dink McDinkus]

Hey AA: "There're" is not a fuggin word. Buy a dictionary you pathetic dipshit.

[whatever you choose to call me sir]

wow dMcd, just wow

I agree with Jeremy. I do have a friend who attends the same church as her, so she is a regular attender, at least when she is in Wasilla, but I do know she has switched from AOG. I would also guess that maybe she doesn't claim all of her tithe. I guess it could work either in her favor or against it if that were released. A lot of people have a problem with people giving all their charity money to a single church.

Her salary was $112,895 in 2007, which is 10% less than the average governors salary (for the largest state) and 32% less than the average congressman's salary. It is also less than a lot of doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. So even though it might not be "middle class," it's a lot closer than a lot of candidates.

“When people run for governor, they know what the salary is,” said Ingrid Reed, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “They’re not doing it for the money. They’re doing it for the power to do good deeds.”
"(Baldacci) could do very well if he chose another profession,” said his spokesman, David Farmer. “But people who become governor aren’t doing it to be rich. They do it out of public service.”
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=207914

And I wouldn't criticize her even if she did speak at a 10th grade level since the majority of America speaks at a 5th grade level and probably didn't understand anything Biden said.

another interesting comment from that article... Head football coaches at NCAA Division 1A schools are paid about $900,000 annually, the largest salary among all state employees. Is a football coach really 9 times more important to the state budget than the governor?

[Alan]

Lots of people I know don't list their tithe for taxes, since they don't want to receive an earthly reward for their giving. Paul made it pretty clear that we shouldn't be giving our money to the church for earthly status - something that a politician can't do if they are reporting their giving. Its also something people should keep in mind when examining the records public officials.

[Rob]

Nine percent on taxes does seem really low. My wife and I paid approximately the same amount in taxes and only made half of what the Palin's made last year. I guess we need to have some kids.