Andrew Sullivan links to this table as evidence that states voting for George Bush are generous people.
As long as he was doing his statistical analysis, though, he could have also pointed out that a majority of those Bush states are in the bottom half of per capita income. Or, if he was really feeling frisky, he could have noted that on a per capita basis those so-called red states receive far more money in federal government expenditures than they pay in taxes (see the Tax Foundation report here). Does that mean they are welfare-loving people?
I guess those pesky kinds of statistics don’t fit in on message so well.
I looked at the link – it appears to only count thise who itemize charitable deductions. For most of my life, I never did that because I didn’t make enough money to itemize. But I did give to several charities. If I’m reading this report correctly, I would not have been counted as being “generous”. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I’m not sure exactly how the data in this index was compiled. But you raise an interesting issue regarding the deductibility of contributions, one I’ve been meaning to post on sooner or later.
Actually, the Generosity Index is a badly flawed analysis. Read my re-examination of its assumptions if you wish…
Another thing is that, if they are using the charitable contribution from IRS records, that includes money given to support one’s church. The Red states (for example in the South) probably have a higher percentage of their citizens actively involved in church or other religious organizations. In many fundamentalist religions (more common in the Red states), they do contribute relatively large amounts to the church. But that money is used for expenses such as mortgage, heat, utilities, etc. as well as proselytizing. I don’t see how that indicates someone’s generosity. It is not as if the majority of that money is given to those in need. And how much of that money goes to related causes such as right to life? I don’t believe that spending money to promote your political/cultural agenda makes you a generous person. I know that it’s not possible but I’d sure like to see what the figures are for say the United Way, Habitat for Humanity or other organizations that truly are generous with the needy rather than just using the Federal charitable contribution from the IRS since it includes the religious contributions.
Another muddier (and I have no idea whether this is beneficial to red states or blue states) is that the Generosity Index uses tax returns as its basis, not tax payers. Single people living alone cannot file jointly, and cannot aggregate their income with anyone else. States with higher marriage rates will have an inflated “income” because the earning is not per capita but per return. I haven’t spent the time yet on marriage rates by states…