As of Friday, the eagerly awaited 2007 tax returns for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are finally out, courtesy of the candidates. Alongside their reported income, which is already courting controversy, are fairly telling numbers for each candidate’s charitable giving.

Charity is an obvious indicator of whether candidates put their money where their mouths are, at least regarding aide to the poor and unfortunate. Obama stumps for the importance of giving and generosity, and last week, Clinton actually called for creating a new cabinet-level position to tackle poverty. As a Democratic consultant told The Chicago Tribune last year, “For a Democrat in particular, given that they tend to be professing a ‘we, not me’ message, it’s always an opportunity to step on the third rail if your charitable contributions don’t stack up.” (See Al Gore’s $353 in 1997.)

It turns out the Obamas, who made $991,296 in 2007 but significantly less in year priors, gave about 1 percent or less of their income to charity between 2000 and 2004. (Returns available here.) That amount grew to as much as 6 percent between 2005 and 2007, coinciding, cynics note, with his national political aspirations. (A campaign spokesman defended the couple’s pre-2005 miserliness by saying it “was as generous as they could be at the time.”)

So far, not many in the media have slammed these numbers for not tracking with what the Democratic candidate preaches on the stump, but the disconnect is particularly dangerous for the Obamas, as these new revelations do nothing to temper their rap as out of touch with average Joes. This is mostly thanks to side commentary by Obama’s wife Michelle that media only recently began picking up on. Although less noted than her newfound-patriotic-pride comment (“For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country”), her remarks in late February about their financial straits, when viewed next to their tax returns, seem to suggest the Obamas’ world has the Obamas at the center.

Michelle Obama, a Harvard Law alumna, makes more than $300,000 a year as vice president for community affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, plus whatever else she might receive for serving on other boards of directors. National Review’s Byron York reported her handwringing in Ohio before the state’s primary back on March 4:

And not everyone can afford to keep it all together, especially here in Muskingum County, where, according to the census, the median household income in 2004 was $37,192, below both the Ohio and national average. Out of that, there’s the mortgage. And childcare. Healthcare. Education. Lessons. “I know we’re spending—I added it up for the first time—we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth,” Mrs. Obama tells the women. “And summer programs. That’s the other huge cost. Barack is saying, ‘Whyyyyyy are we spending that?’ And I’m saying, ‘Do you know what summer camp costs?’”

The Clintons, meanwhile, have put $109 million in their pockets over the past 8 years, giving $10.2 million (roughly 10 percent, which several media like Bloomberg have erroneously referred to as “biblical tithing”) to charity during that time. (Returns available here.)

But, as The Washington Post notes, the bulk of these donations went to their own Clinton Family Foundation. While the foundation during that time employed Bill as its president, Hillary as secretary and treasurer and daughter Chelsea as a director, none of them were compensated; however, keeping the money so close to home (and, after all, still writing it off) has many asking questions.

To put these numbers in perspective, though, this Tax Foundation chart shows that both candidates’ giving exceeds the average for their respective income groups. Moreover, American evangelical churchgoers’ giving is currently floundering at an average of 2.6 percent of income—more than a half percent lower than what their counterparts gave during the Great Depression. The Obamas’ $22,500 to Trinity United Church of Christ in 2006 hits this average almost spot-on at about 2.3 percent of income, though only represents 37 percent of their charitable giving for that year.