Quoted: We're just poor. NH is a pretty low income state, you can't give much when you need every penny just to get by.

Yeah, South Dakota isn't "rich", but still comes in at #7.  I think we rank 46th/50 for salary levels.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Interesting how the "swing states" are generally over 25...  

hmmm....

Doesn't surprise me in the least!

Not a lick.

It's not called 'the Bible Belt' for nothing!

Look at Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5!

Eric The(GoodFolksThose'Red'Staters)Hun

How about comparing the states that paid the most and least amount of federal taxes and which ones got the most and least of federal tax dollars back.

Quoted: How about comparing the states that paid the most and least amount of federal taxes and which ones got the most and least of federal tax dollars back.

Taxes are NOT voluntary.

Contributions to charity are voluntary.

No matter how you attempt to explain it, you cannot ignore these facts.

Eric The(WiseBeyondHisEars)Hun

Quoted: We're just poor. NH is a pretty low income state, you can't give much when you need every penny just to get by.

Yeah, Mississippi is a bunch of rich folks.  

Posted By Atencio:

Quoted: No matter how you attempt to explain it, you cannot ignore these facts. Eric The(WiseBeyondHisEars)Hun

sure you can.

What? Ignore the facts?

I suppose you could ignore the facts, but, then, why would you ignore the facts?

You only have so much extra money available.

These figures are based upon income tax figures for each state respecting income.

That was taken into account in figuring the rank of each state.

Didn't you read the Technical Notes?

Here's the List of Variables that were used in this system and methodology:

Definitions of Variables:

1. Average Adjusted Gross Income (AAGI): The average adjusted gross income of all taxpayers for a particular state

2. Having Rank: a ranking of the Average Adjusted Gross Income

3. Percent of Returns with Itemized Charitable Deductions (ICDs): the percentage of taxpayers itemizing charitable deductions (call them "donors" for conciseness). This is the aggregate data from the Internal Revenue Service on taxpayers who itemize and take a charitable deduction for their contributions. This information however, covers less than 30 percent of all US taxpayers, as over 70 percent take a standard deduction and do not itemize. Although the proportion of itemizing taxpayers is relatively small, their charitable deductions do represent about 60 percent of the total estimated charitable contributions in the United States (The Urban Institute, 2001)

4. Avg. Itemized Charitable Contribution: the average level of donations for a state

5. Giving Rank: a ranking of the average donations

6. Ranks Relation: Having Rank minus the Giving Rank

7. Generosity Index: The index is created by comparing the rank of each state's average adjusted gross income (AAGI) to the rank of each state's average itemized charitable deductions (AICD). The arithmetical differences between these two rankings are then themselves ranked, resulting in the Generosity Index rank.

If you are paying more in taxes you will have less available for other sources.  That only makes sense.

That was considered in 'Average Adjusted Gross Income'.

All taxes that the citizens of each state pays, including state, local, and federal taxes, are taken into account when determining 'Average Adjusted Gross Income.'

Unless you folks in California do NOT permit the deduction of 'taxes paid' as an adjustment to income, the fact that some states, including yours, have high taxes is already figured into the rankings based upon AAGI.

You don't do your own taxes, do you?

Eric The(IntriguedAtSomeAnswers)Hun

Quoted: Quoted: It's not called 'the Bible Belt' for nothing! Look at Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5! TN is close enough to the belt and Utah is Utah, so SD is the only outlier of the top 8. Who can explain the religious gifting in SD?

Just trying to take up the slack from MN, NE and IA.

Quoted: Quoted: All taxes that the citizens of each state pays, including state, local, and federal taxes, are taken into account when determining 'Average Adjusted Gross Income.' There is more to taxes than just state, federal, and local property taxes.

Who said anything about 'property' taxes? I simply said 'taxes', which includes taxes of all sorts, and would include such things as state sales taxes, gas taxes, and every other tax, which are all figured into deductions for income tax purposes.  

Those taxes and just about any other taxes that you can think about are tax-deductible.

Gasoline and sales taxes are not included in average adjusted gross income at least here in Cali.

Why wouldn't they be?

They are in every state in the union. When did Cali leave?

If you're really smart you will keep ALL of your sales receipts to claim every dime of sales tax, gas tax, etc., that you've paid.

And the higher income that is earned, the more likely it is that the taxpayer will do so!

I think the Feds say you can deduct sales tax or income tax from federal income tax but that only helps people in the 7 or so states don't have income taxes.

Huh?

I'm not understanding a word of that sentence! How can you deduct income tax in 'the 7 or so states that don't have income tax'?

And, trust me, ALL state and local sales taxes are tax-deductible on your FEDERAL income tax return.

L.A. County is getting close to 10% sales tax.

Dallas is 8.75% so forgive me if I don't feel your pain!

I can't claim the entire amount of my car registration tax.

Why not?

Even if I can claim my property and state income taxes to come up with an adjusted income on my Federal return that does not make it equal to you living in Texas.

You can say that all you wish, but I do not believe it.

The facts say otherwise!

For example,  say I pay $10,000 in state income tax.  That is money taken from my pay checks over the year.  At the end of the year I can claim that on my Federal income tax and depending on how much my total deductions are I might get some of it theoretically back in a refund.  You on the other hand, decide to give $10,000 to charity.  At the end of the year you can claim that $10,000 on your taxes and get the same theoretical refund back.  The difference is that you gave your $10,000 to charity and I gave mine to the state and local governments every two weeks with my paycheck. So, it shows that you are more giving per your charity deductions while I am a cheap bastard.  The study makes no mention of this (as far as I can tell).

Where you are confused, possibly, is that you are trying to make your own situation different from mine to say that is the source of the disparity.

But the study was done on a state wide basis, and so I am being pitted against other taxpayers in my state and you are being pitted against taxpayers in your state.

State income taxes are deductible in every state in the union. Trust me on this.

If you look at the tables that explain the methodology used in this study, they should explain everything to you.

I would love to see a study that took the following into account:  Adjusted income and typical expenses (ie.  mortgage, insurance, utilities, typical stuff most people pay) to come up with a real number of disposible income.  From that number then do a comparision of donation to disposible income.  My hunch is that the state order would not change a whole lot.  As you mentioned, I think religion is the key factor for most of the states listed.

My thoughts are that the ratings would not change much at all, either.

Eric The(Charitable)Hun

Doesn't factor in cost of living

Edit "most generous" correlates pretty closely (I bet almost exactly but didn't check) with "don't make shit"  I noticed right off that the low numbers were from the most poverty stricken states, but didn't go through all 50 states

I only checked the first few states, I suppose if you go through all 50 you might find something different, but I bet you don't.

Per Capita Personal Income by State
State  1980 1990  1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Alabama  $7,465 $14,899  $19,683 $22,054 $22,972 $23,521 $24,477 $25,128 $26,338
Alaska  13,007 20,887  25,798 27,835 28,629 29,642 31,027 32,151 33,568
Arizona  8,854 16,262  20,634 24,206 25,173 24,988 25,878 26,183 26,838
Arkansas  7,113 13,779  18,546 21,167 22,233 21,995 22,750 23,512 24,289
California  11,021 20,656  24,496 28,163 29,856 32,149 32,655 32,996 33,749
Colorado  10,143 18,818  24,865 29,994 31,533 32,434 33,455 33,276 34,283
Connecticut  11,532 25,426  31,947 37,338 39,543 40,702 42,377 42,706 43,173
Delaware  10,059 19,719  25,391 29,383 30,701 31,012 32,166 32,779 32,810
DC 12,251 24,643  33,045 36,415 39,130 38,838 40,539 42,120 48,342
Florida  9,246 18,785  23,512 26,845 27,781 27,764 29,048 29,596 30,446
Georgia  8,021 17,121  22,230 25,839 27,324 27,794 28,523 28,821 29,442
Hawaii  10,129 20,905  25,584 26,759 27,533 27,851 29,034 30,001 30,913
Idaho  8,105 15,304  19,630 22,079 22,871 23,727 24,506 25,057 25,911
Illinois  10,454 20,159  25,643 29,853 31,138 31,856 32,990 33,404 33,690
Indiana  8,914 16,815  21,845 25,163 26,157 26,933 27,522 28,240 28,783
Iowa  9,226 16,683  21,181 24,745 25,598 26,431 27,225 28,280 29,043
Kansas  9,880 17,639  21,889 25,537 26,705 27,374 28,432 29,141 29,935
Kentucky  7,679 14,751  19,215 22,183 23,227 24,085 24,878 25,579 26,252
Louisiana  8,412 14,279  19,541 22,206 22,839 23,090 24,454 25,446 26,100
Maine  7,760 17,041  20,240 23,499 24,582 25,380 26,853 27,744 28,831
Maryland  10,394 22,088  26,896 30,557 32,517 33,482 35,279 36,298 37,331
Massachusetts  10,103 22,248  28,051 33,496 35,527 37,704 38,864 39,244 39,815
Michigan  9,801 18,239  23,975 26,885 28,104 29,127 29,629 30,296 30,439
Minnesota  9,673 18,784  24,583 29,263 30,742 31,935 33,059 34,071 34,443
Mississippi  6,573 12,578  17,185 19,776 20,686 20,900 21,653 22,372 23,448
Missouri  8,812 17,407  22,094 25,150 26,404 27,206 28,221 28,936 29,252
Montana  $ 8,342 $14,743  $18,764 $21,229 $21,997 $22,518 $24,044 $25,020 25,920
Nebraska  8,895 17,379  22,196 25,924 27,047 27,630 28,861 29,771 30,758
Nevada  10,848 20,248  25,808 29,200 31,004 29,506 30,128 30,180 31,266
New Hampshire  9,150 20,231  25,008 29,480 31,325 33,169 33,969 34,334 34,702
New Jersey  10,966 24,182  29,277 34,383 35,612 37,118 38,625 39,453 40,427
New Mexico  7,940 14,213  18,852 21,164 21,836 21,931 23,081 23,941 25,541
New York  10,179 22,322  27,721 32,108 33,901 34,689 35,878 36,043 36,574
North Carolina  7,780 16,284  21,938 25,181 26,417 26,882 27,308 27,711 28,235
North Dakota  8,642 15,320  19,084 22,892 23,273 24,708 25,798 26,982 29,204
Ohio  9,399 17,547  22,887 26,073 27,171 27,977 28,699 29,405 29,944
Oklahoma  9,018 15,117  19,394 21,964 22,958 23,650 24,945 25,575 26,656
Oregon  9,309 17,201  22,668 25,912 26,958 27,660 28,222 28,731 29,340
Pennsylvania  9,353 18,884  23,738 27,469 28,619 29,504 30,752 31,727 31,998
Rhode Island  9,227 19,035  24,046 28,262 29,335 29,113 30,256 31,319 31,916
South Carolina  7,392 15,101  19,473 22,372 23,538 24,000 24,840 25,400 26,132
South Dakota  7,800 15,628  19,848 23,715 25,041 25,958 26,566 26,894 29,234
Tennessee  7,711 15,903  21,800 24,437 25,548 25,946 26,808 27,671 28,455
Texas  9,439 16,747  21,526 25,369 26,834 27,752 28,472 28,551 29,372
Utah  7,671 14,063  18,858 22,240 23,276 23,436 24,033 24,306 24,977
Vermont  7,957 17,444  21,359 24,602 25,845 26,848 28,756 29,567 30,740
Virginia  9,413 19,543  24,456 28,063 29,794 31,120 32,338 32,922 33,671
Washington  10,256 19,268  23,878 28,719 30,380 31,230 31,976 32,677 33,332
West Virginia  7,764 13,964  17,913 20,185 20,921 21,738 22,862 23,688 24,379
Wisconsin  9,364 17,399  22,573 26,284 27,370 28,100 29,196 29,923 30,898
Wyoming  11,018 16,905  21,514 24,312 26,363 27,372 29,587 30,578 32,808
United States  9,494 18,667  23,562 27,203 28,546 29,469 30,413 30,906 31,632