tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7085195159661027971.post2351976113877488753..comments2024-03-15T16:14:36.387-04:00Comments on Just the social facts, ma'am: Do the rich give to charity?David Weakliemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336229317604663975noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7085195159661027971.post-70842997445745997532013-05-29T18:42:46.097-04:002013-05-29T18:42:46.097-04:00Those figures seem to be the original source for S...Those figures seem to be the original source for Stern's conclusions. The problem is that they are limited to itemized returns. Most low and middle income people don't itemize, and the ones who do are those who have large deductions. So low and middle income people who don't give much to charity are left out of the sample. <br /><br />But the IRS figures are useful for comparisons in the upper reaches of the income distributions, where almost everyone itemizes. Among people who earn 100,000-200,000, average reported contributions (cash and non-cash) are about 2.6% of income. Among people who earn over 10,000,000, it's about 6.1%. The rich may not be generous in an absolute sense (I like to think that I'd give more than 6% of my income to charity if I made ten million a year), but they do seem to give proportionately more than the rest of us.David Weakliemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02336229317604663975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7085195159661027971.post-80935755150906664382013-05-28T14:36:21.252-04:002013-05-28T14:36:21.252-04:00The IRS publishes aggregated statistical data for ...The IRS publishes aggregated statistical data for income tax returns. <br /><br />http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats---Individual-Statistical-Tables-by-Size-of-Adjusted-Gross-Income<br /><br />Couldn't you get some rough idea of the figures from Table 2.1 there? <br /><br />Earle Millernoreply@blogger.com