Tax returns released by the Barack Obama presidential campaign show that Obama and his wife Michelle gave less than 1 percent of their total $1.2 million income to charity from 2000 through 2004.
The Obamas reported that they gave $2,350 to charity in 2000 — 1 percent of their $240,505 adjusted gross income — $1,470 (.5 percent) in 2001, $1,050 (.4 percent) in 2002, $3,400 (1.4 percent) in 2003, and $2,500 (1.2 percent) in 2004.
The total for the four years was $10,770, “a lowball figure compared to other politicians,” the New York Post reported in a story headlined “Those Stingy Obamas.”
The Obamas increased their charitable contributions to $77,315 in 2005, when their adjusted gross income was $1.65 million — including $1.2 million from Barack Obama’s book royalties.
And in 2006, the Obamas contributed $60,307 — 6.1 percent of their $983,826 AGI — including $22,500 to controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ and $13,107 to the Congressional Black Caucus.
Obama aides say he contributed $240,000 last year, although his 2007 tax returns have not yet been released.
An Obama spokesman said during the years when the couple’s charitable contributions totaled less than 1 percent, they were new parents paying off student loans.
The Obama campaign has criticized Hillary Clinton for not releasing her returns from Bill Clinton’s post-White House years, when he has made million from private investment deals, according to the Post.
Hillary said on Tuesday that she hoped to release her returns “within the next week.”
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