Bernie Sanders released his tax returns and there's a lot of buzz about it on twitter. Okay, there's a little buzz about it on twitter. Sanders pays about 13% of his income in taxes. Twitter thinks that's a big deal because Mitt Romney paid about 14%, so Sanders is in the same category. The twitterites are also pointing out that Sanders gave only 4% of his income to charity. What a tightwad, or so they claim.
Because of the Sanders news, I decided to go back and look at the tax returns for Hillary Clinton. I've been meaning to do that for many months now, but I keep forgetting to do it. Hillary files jointly with Bill. For 2014, they had income of just less than thirty million dollars. By comparison, Bernie Sanders and his wife had just over $200,000 in income. That means Bill and Hillary had income roughly 150 times more than Bernie and his wife. I looked to see what the Clinton's gave to charity. On first glance, it looks like they gave ten percent of their income, but after some digging, you find the reality. The Clintons actually gave 0.07% of their income to charity. That means that on an income adjusted basis, Sanders gave about sixty times more to charity than the Clintons did. Essentially all the money that the Clintons claimed went to charity actually went to the Clinton Family Foundation. That organization spent 82% of its expenditures on "administration", which is a nice way of saying that it paid for huge travel and other expenses for Bill and Hillary and also paid the salaries of many of Hillary's main political cronies. When you look at the contributions to the Foundation, it seems easy to conclude that none of the money that the Clintons themselves put into that entity actually went for charity.
The truth is that there is nothing special in the Sanders' tax returns. The man may be delusional, but his returns don't tell us much. Hillary, on the other hand, is super-rich and gives essentially nothing to charity. Hillary says she likes to help others, but clearly, that effort can only be made with other people's money.
Because of the Sanders news, I decided to go back and look at the tax returns for Hillary Clinton. I've been meaning to do that for many months now, but I keep forgetting to do it. Hillary files jointly with Bill. For 2014, they had income of just less than thirty million dollars. By comparison, Bernie Sanders and his wife had just over $200,000 in income. That means Bill and Hillary had income roughly 150 times more than Bernie and his wife. I looked to see what the Clinton's gave to charity. On first glance, it looks like they gave ten percent of their income, but after some digging, you find the reality. The Clintons actually gave 0.07% of their income to charity. That means that on an income adjusted basis, Sanders gave about sixty times more to charity than the Clintons did. Essentially all the money that the Clintons claimed went to charity actually went to the Clinton Family Foundation. That organization spent 82% of its expenditures on "administration", which is a nice way of saying that it paid for huge travel and other expenses for Bill and Hillary and also paid the salaries of many of Hillary's main political cronies. When you look at the contributions to the Foundation, it seems easy to conclude that none of the money that the Clintons themselves put into that entity actually went for charity.
The truth is that there is nothing special in the Sanders' tax returns. The man may be delusional, but his returns don't tell us much. Hillary, on the other hand, is super-rich and gives essentially nothing to charity. Hillary says she likes to help others, but clearly, that effort can only be made with other people's money.
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