Obama is a Cheapskate

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.dMoapeTcME&refer=us
[i]
Obamas Donated Less Than 1% of Their 2000-2004 Income (Update2)

By Ryan J. Donmoyer and Julianna Goldman

March 25 (Bloomberg) – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign.

The Obamas increased the amount they gave to charity when their income rose in 2005 and 2006 after the Illinois senator published a bestselling book. The $137,622 they gave over those two years amounted to more than 5 percent of their $2.6 million income.

[/i]

Shit I donate more than 1% and I am an evil conservative.

I suspect when I start pulling in millions I will donate even more.

He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

[quote]Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

[/quote]

For real.

I need to start giving more just so I don’t owe money now.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

For real.

I need to start giving more just so I don’t owe money now.[/quote]

If you are making surgeons money it is time to start giving back.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

For real.

I need to start giving more just so I don’t owe money now.

If you are making surgeons money it is time to start giving back.[/quote]

Giving back to whom?

Did he “take” something from those people to begin with?

The only person who should care about what Obama does with Obama’s money is…

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

For real.

I need to start giving more just so I don’t owe money now.

If you are making surgeons money it is time to start giving back.[/quote]

I do “give back” (like I have since high school) but I had never been schooled on keeping the receipts and making sure I noted what went where because I was broke also at the time. I was making less money in the military so this is new to me. I don’t know that much about finances other than basic shit.

[quote]anonym wrote:
The only person who should care about what Obama does with Obama’s money is…[/quote]

The government?

[quote]Sloth wrote:
anonym wrote:
The only person who should care about what Obama does with Obama’s money is…

The government?[/quote]

No, silly. The T-Nation peanut gallery.

This guy asked me for a quarter for bus fare a few weeks ago, I started fishing around in my pocket, I made sure that he could hear the change jingling. Then I pulled out my empty hand and told him to ask Obama for change.

ZING! Thank you, thank you! I have been wating SO LONG to use that one!

God my life is sad…

[quote]anonym wrote:

Giving back to whom?

Did he “take” something from those people to begin with?

The only person who should care about what Obama does with Obama’s money is…[/quote]

Mrs. Obama.

[quote]Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

[/quote]

I guess he’s saving now to be able to afford his planned tax increases? That make sense - what a prudent financial planner…

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I do “give back” (like I have since high school) but I had never been schooled on keeping the receipts and making sure I noted what went where because I was broke also at the time. I was making less money in the military so this is new to me. I don’t know that much about finances other than basic shit.[/quote]

It’s hard to have more itemized deductions than your standard deduction.

Hypothetically, if your standard deduction was $5,000 your itemized deduction, including charity, home, work expenses, etc. would have to exceed $5,000 before they even kick in.

So in reality, unless you are very adament about keeping receipts for every small deduction, which most people arent’, your better off just going with your standard deduction.

Of course, I’m not saying this to talk anyone out of giving. In fact, why don’t you check out the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation now…j/k.

Some more troubling questions arising from the Obamas’ tax returns:

http://www.volokh.com/posts/chain_1206496543.shtml

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Some more troubling questions arising from the Obamas’ tax returns:

http://www.volokh.com/posts/chain_1206496543.shtml

[/quote]

Shouldn’t you be leaving this investigation up to the IRS?

[quote]
BostonBarrister wrote:
Some more troubling questions arising from the Obamas’ tax returns:

http://www.volokh.com/posts/chain_1206496543.shtml

Professor X wrote:
Shouldn’t you be leaving this investigation up to the IRS?[/quote]

I don’t think the IRS has any jurisdiction to enforce the Illinois ethics rules, or to investigate whether Obama’s wife got a big salary in an attempt to get into Obama’s good graces.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
He doesn’t want to give more to charity, god, he’s saving it so he can pay it in taxes! Duh!

For real.

I need to start giving more just so I don’t owe money now.

If you are making surgeons money it is time to start giving back.

I do “give back” (like I have since high school) but I had never been schooled on keeping the receipts and making sure I noted what went where because I was broke also at the time. I was making less money in the military so this is new to me. I don’t know that much about finances other than basic shit.[/quote]

“Give back” is probably a bad term but I hate the term “pay it forward”.

Just give to causes you agree with. Food banks, fire fighters, whatever. You do not need to pay back the people that helped you, you should help those that need it.

Keep receipts as it is tax deductible but I have never seen it make much difference on my tax returns. It certainly is cheaper for me to keep it in my pocket.

I should have started earlier myself but didn’t really give it much thought until 9/11.

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Some more troubling questions arising from the Obamas’ tax returns:

The Volokh Conspiracy - [/quote]

Seriously, this looks very fishy.

Michelle Obama’s salary went up from $121,910 in 2004 to $316,962 when her husband was elected to the Senate. That’s quite a raise. I’d be interested to see if her hospital received any earmarks from the junior Senator.

The Illinois legislature’s ethics rules are less troubling because they’re stupid. But it does look like Obama probably violated them.

I do want to point out that Obama should be commended for releasing his tax returns for scrutiny. Where are Hillary’s?

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
I do want to point out that Obama should be commended for releasing his tax returns for scrutiny. Where are Hillary’s?[/quote]

Yep. That’s what I call transparency.

http://thepage.time.com/obama-camp-on-tax-returns-release/

After eight years of the White House being obscure, refusing accountability, deleting emails and such, that is certainly going to win Obama a lot of sympathizers. Smart move!

Conservatives complaining about someone being a cheapskate… funny.