“American households with incomes of less than $10,000 give an average of 5.5 percent of their earning to charity or to a religious organization, while those making more than $100,000 a year give only 2.9 percent.  After changes in the 1986 tax code reduced the benefits of charitable giving, taxpayers earning $500,000 or more slashed their average donation by nearly one-third.  Futhermore, many of these acts of benevolence do not help the needy.  Rather than provide funding to social service agencies that aid the poor, the voluntary contributions of the wealthy go to places and institutions that entertain, inspire, cure, or educate wealthy Americans - art museums, opera houses, theaters, orchestras, ballet companies, private hospitals, and elite universities.”

From a study published in the New Yorker in 1991.