Q: The AJC recently reported that a Gerhard Richter painting owned by Eric Clapton sold for $34.2 million at auction. How much did Clapton originally pay for it?
—Michelle Hutchinson, Marietta
A: Clapton, an English musician and songwriter who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, bought the oil painting, called "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)," and two other Richter paintings, for $3.4 million in New York in 2001. Clapton kept the other two paintings he owns by Richter, who is 80 and lives in Cologne, Germany. Another Richter painting in the series, "Abstraktes Bild (809-2)," not owned by Clapton, sold for $3.1 million at the same auction, Sotheby's said. Clapton sold instruments and memorabilia last year to raise $2.15 million for the Crossroads Centre Antigua, a drug and alcohol rehab facility he co-founded in 1998, the BBC reported.
Q: In the vice presidential debate, Paul Ryan stated that Mitt Romney gave 30 percent of his income to charity. Can you tell us how much this amount was and how much went to the Mormon church?
—Don White, Atlanta
A: Romney claimed $4.7 million in itemized deductions on $13.7 million in income, according to the 2011 tax returns he released. These included cash contributions of $1.115 million to the Mormon church and $214,516 to the Tyler Charitable Foundation, a Romney family foundation. There also was $920,573 in unnamed noncash contributions. Romney didn't deduct $1.75 million in contributions to keep his tax rate above 13 percent, according to published reports. Romney paid $1.9 million in taxes in 2011, according to the return.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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