Obama Gave the Church Less Than One-Half Percent of $18 Million Income Over 12 Years

An analysis of 12 years of tax returns recently released by President Barack Obama from 2000 to 2011 shows that the First Family donated 1.4 percent or less of their income to charity until he began to run for the U.S. Senate in 2004, and gave only nominal amounts to the church except for substantial donations to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity Church of Christ in 2006 and 2007.

The analysis performed by The Christian Post shows that from 2000 to 2011, the Obamas reported an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $18,677,610, of which they paid $5,794,492, or 31 percent, in taxes. Almost this entire amount was taxed as ordinary income based on the particular bracket the Obamas fell into from year-to-year, as compared to the 15 percent tax rate on long-term investment income that many individuals who have significant investment income, such as GOP candidate Mitt Romney, pay.

Over the same 12-year period, President and Mrs. Obama gave $1.3 million to various charities, ranging from a low of $1,050, or .4 percent of their income in 2002, to $172,130, or 21.8 percent of their income in 2011. Overall, from 2000 to 2011, the Obamas gave 6.9 percent of their AGI to charity, and less than a quarter of a percent was reported as donated to churches.

[link to www.christianpost.com]