At the other end of the spectrum, the analysis identified low-paid taxpayers who nonetheless managed to give much higher-than-average shares of their income to charities.
Despite this relative statistic, in absolute monetary terms, the most generous postcodes were Sydney's affluent eastern and north shore suburbs such as Mosman, Darling Point, Rose Bay, Vaucluse, Double Bay and Woollahra.
This analysis was based on the Taxation Office's latest taxation statistics released in March.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/deep-pockets-tight-fists-mine-workers-not-big-donors-20100409-rym5.html
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson says that such figures only give part of the answer as to who gives.
Unlike the United States, where giving to Churches is tax deductible, Australian Christian churches receive 'offerings' which are given freely by worshippers and are not tax deductible.
Consider for a moment, that the many thousands of Christian churches around the nation, plus the salaried staff of clergy, professional and administration staff, are all paid from the free-will giving of their congregations. You will realise how gracious and sacrificial many Christian Australians are, in the way they exhibit their sacred beliefs.
Many of the churches programs which assists the community through church facilities, church run ministries, church welfare arms and church youth activities are funded through this free-will offering system.
Then are the denominational missionary societies and independent missions that are equally supported by free-will offerings that do not have any tax deductibility. Out of these donated monies come all the costs of the mission: the missionaries' incomes, air fares and travel expenses, overseas mission infrastructure and a whole lot more.
The Australian Christians who give to their churches, denominational and independent missions do so from their heart as a love offering to the Lord. Donating whatever they can afford is high on each person's priorities, that is, to serve the Lord.
Australian Christians comes in all shapes and sizes and races; and the type of donations they give are equally diverse. The child's twenty cent piece given at Sunday School is equivalent in spirit to what the tradesman and his family can afford, or the regular giving of the chief executive of a multinational company. It all goes into the offering bag, and it is all given out of their love for the Lord to the ministry and mission's outreach programs.
M V Tronson is constantly reminded of how Jesus spoke of the value of the widow's mite, in that she gave all that she had as a love offering to the Lord. In his view, many Missions and faith financed missionaries receive widow's mites and herein lies the spiritual strength of their mission activities.
Dr David Milikan who wrote the book 'The Sunburnt Soul' in 1982, is anything to go by, the statistics that have never been challenged, is that 82% of the nation's total giving to benevolence and welfare is through the Churches.