Leading Independent Presidential Candidate on $50 Billion & the Top American Donors

West Palm Beach, FL – March 12, 2007 – Recently, The Slate 60, a list of the 60 top donors in the United States, was released, announcing that the top 60 US Charitable contributions came in at over $50.5 billion.

The figure was up almost $45 million from 2005. To put it in perspective, $50 billion is roughly the GDP of Slovakia and the market capitalization of McDonalds.

Today, the leading independent presidential candidate for 2008, Daniel Imperato, voiced his opinions regarding the recent trend.

"In times where the United States Government could use some support, the wealthiest donors of the United States of America have decided to take advantage of tax-deductible contributions to private charities that are not required to operate on general accounting principals or have government oversight. The people who have made their money in America should look to give back to their country, not just feed their own pocketbooks."

Imperato has been commenting on this issue for many months, including his statement in a December 2006 article where he sated, "Referring to the London Financial Times, December 22, 2006, page 4, "Greenberg charitable fund could top $20bn", the article announced that their fund will provide medical care to impoverished communities in Africa and Asia. First of all, I say that Africa has plenty of funds pertaining to their oil reserves and that the continent of Africa needs to band together to create a fund to support their own impoverished communities. After all, Africa, as a continent, has more natural resources reserves than most. The problem with Africa is that the majority of the leadership and governance is in appropriate and the billions of dollars being stolen from the natural resource sector is the majority cause of the poverty. Their governance needs to be in order."

The London Times article announced Warren Buffet's gift to the Greenberg Charitable Fund in addition to his other tax-deductible contributions which totaled over $43 billion to unregulated 501(c)3 charities which spread the money all over the world, including Asia.

Imperato previously commented in December, "In the Asia-Pacific there is China with $900 billion in cash, natural resources as much as most, a huge growing economy with plenty of cash, should take the responsibility to invest in the Asia-Pacific countries to collectively organize a group of the Asia-Pacific countries to address the impoverished communities." "I, Daniel Imperato, on December 22, 2006 stand up to the American people to say I've had enough. The tax deductible funds are a diversion from the billionaires and the United States of America's income tax payments, allowing tax deductible contributions to go to private foundations under their control without any government scrutiny watching the distribution of funds or guaranteeing that the tax deductible contributions are being spent properly."

Imperato supports a new policy that will put a contribution cap on unregulated 501(c)3 charities. The only charity that will not have such a cap is the Social Security Fund.

"No uncapped contributions should go anywhere else but the Social Security Fund, for the people. Some of these billionaires, who have profited off the backs of the American people, are unjustly taking their money and utilizing it for tax benefits and foreign aid. The United States of America is the world leader in foreign aid, donating billions more than our nearest competitor. It's time that the billionaires of America come to the aid of America, and give back to create a Better America."