I freaking love twitter. I'm talking to Holland Taylor about charitable giving...

[hfojvt]

7. again though, you should not assume selfishness just because of political affiliation

and you should also notice that the tax deduction is not 100%. If Mitt Romney makes $10,000,000 this year and gives $1,000,000 to charity that charitable donation only saves him about $150,000 in taxes. Because his income seems to be mostly dividends and capital gains, his marginal tax rate is only 15%. Even if the top rate was 39% (and the state where he lived charged 10%, which would be very high for most state income taxes) he still would only be saving $490,000 on his taxes. Which would mean that he was giving away $510,000.