If I Had More I Would . . .
by Van James
The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, is full of all sorts of information about us. I saw some figures from it the other day that I thought were interesting. They told us how much of our income was used for “charitable contributions.” In the table below various ranges of income are on the left. The percent given to charity is:
| zero to $10,000 | 5.5% |
| 10,000 to 19,000 | 3.2% |
| 20,000 to 29,000 | 2.9% |
| 30,000 to 39,000 | 2.6% |
| 40,000 to 49,000 | 1.8% |
The table is not complete. All levels of income are not included, but there is a disturbing pattern. It seems that many of us who say, “If I had more, I’d give more” find ourselves practicing a lifestyle that says, “When I get more, I keep more."
