Democratic 2020 hopeful Beto O’Rourke joined the race to release personal income tax returns on Monday, and quickly found himself under scrutiny over the percentage of his reported income that went to charity.
According to a report from The Washington Post, O’Rourke donated $1,166 to charity out of his reported income of $370,412.
Thread on charitable giving: Beto O’Rourke released 10 years of tax returns last night. He and his wife gave $1,166 to charity out of their $370,412 income in 2017. That’s one-third of 1%. It puts them at the bottom of 2020 Dems who have released taxes. https://t.co/EwMfQwTaP7
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) April 16, 2019
Over the last ten years, O’Rourke’s annual charitable giving amount has exceeded 1 percent only once — during his first year as a federal representative from Texas in 2013.
Beto O’Rourke released his tax returns and only donated more than 1% to charity one time over the past decade. pic.twitter.com/ByRd50dUJi
— Molly Prince (@mollyfprince) April 16, 2019
Fellow Democratic candidate — and current frontrunner — Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took criticism Monday after the release of his own tax returns proved that the staunch advocate for democratic socialism was not only a millionaire, but had donated just more than 1 percent of his own income to charity while demanding that others pay more.
Bernie Sanders wants to tax the rich, but when asked in his town hall if he’d pay his fair share of taxes (now that he’s a millionaire).
He declined. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 16, 2019
Among the other Democrats competing for the 2020 nomination, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren along with her husband reportedly donated 5.5 percent of their $906,000 income.
But none of them came close to former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, who gave away a staggering 22 percent of their $790,000 income in 2011 — and even they fell short of the amount donated by Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney in 2012, who gave away 29 percent of his total income. (RELATED: Trump Donates $100,000 Of His Salary To Fund Immigration Enforcement)
It is impossible to attach a percentage to President Donald Trump’s charitable giving without seeing his actual tax returns. He has donated his entire presidential salary of $400,000 annually, split between different charities by quarter.