Americans gave close to $300 billion dollars to charity in 2006, according to the AP:
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a new record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the Asian tsunami.
The AP reports that Americans are by far the most generous people in the world:
…Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7 percent. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73 percent, while France, with a 0.14 percent rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.
Imagine how much more it would have been if the government was not looting the taxpayers to pay for things charities should be handling.
Full story.
