Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife reported giving 2.6% of their $3.1 million adjusted gross income to charity in 2010, below the average donation level of taxpayers at their income level, according to Internal Revenue Service data.
The Gingriches reported $81,133 in charitable donations, according to tax documents that they released Jan. 19.
The sole named benefactor, the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, received $9,540, and it paid Mr. Gingrich's wife, Callista, $5,918. She is a member of the choir.
Another $68,493 in charitable deductions was listed as gifts from Mr. Gingrich's companies to unidentified charities.
The rest, $3,100, was labeled miscellaneous donations.
U.S. taxpayers with income of between $2 million and $5 million a year on average donated 3.5% of their adjusted gross income, according to 2009 IRS data, the most recent figures available. The average for all taxpayers is 3%, the data show.
The former House speaker, who in recent years has worked as a health care and housing industry consultant, was the first of the four remaining 2012 Republican presidential contenders to release his tax returns. He provided his 2010 forms and hasn't said whether he will release those from other years.
Russell James, director of a graduate program in charitable financial planning at Texas Tech University, said that while Mr. Gingrich's level of giving “isn't shockingly low,” research shows that older, conservative Americans typically are among the most generous with donations.
TAX BENEFITS
“Someone with his political philosophy you would expect to be on the very high end of giving,” Mr. James said. Conservatives “tend to be more churchgoing and believe that others outside of the government should take care of people.”
And charitable giving provides a tax break.
“The obvious advantage to charity is, it's deductible,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. “It reduces your taxable income, meaning the cost of giving away a dollar is substantially less than a dollar.”
Mr. Gingrich's spokesman, R.C. Hammond, didn't return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.
Mr. Gingrich said at the CNN debate Jan. 19 that he released his 2010 tax forms “so that people can see what we do and how we did it, and what our values are.”
His joint filing with his wife gives no indication which charities other than the National Shrine benefited from their donations.
A separate tax document released Jan. 19 for The Gingrich Foundation provides a list of donation recipients.
The foundation received $152,609 in contributions in 2010 — it doesn't list donors — and provided $120,000 to 14 organizations.
Luther College, Ms. Gingrich's alma mater, received the most, $30,000. The National Shrine received $20,000.
Smaller amounts went to the Mount Vernon Association, the Washington National Opera and the Atlanta Ballet, according to the tax returns.
Most presidential candidates since the 1970s have released tax returns, and some have been criticized for below-average giving, including Democrats, such as President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore.
The Obamas donated less than 1% of their income from 2000 through 2004 and 5% of the money they made in 2005 and 2006, according to tax returns they released.
In 1997, Mr. Gore, who ran for president in 2000, donated $353 of his $197,729 earnings. He bumped up his giving to $15,197 the next year.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's donations to the Mormon Church may dominate the charity storyline of this year's election.
Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and co-founder of private-equity firm
Bain Capital LLC, earned $21.6 million in 2010 and made $3 million in charitable contributions, including $1.5 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to tax returns he released last week. The church also received donations from the family's foundation.
According to an estimated 2011 return, Mr. Romney earned $20.9 million and contributed $2.6 million to the Mormon Church. Mormons are asked to donate at least 10% of their income to the church every year.
