When you do your taxes this year ...

Presidential Election Campaign Fund
This fund helps pay for Presidential election campaigns. The fund reduces candidats' dependence on large contributions from individuals and groups and places candidates on an equal financial footing in the general election. If you want $3 to go to this fund, check the box. If you are filing a joint return, your spouse can also have $3 go to the fund. If you check a box, your tax or refund will not change.

May Any Candidate Receive the Public Funds?

No. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) certifies the eligibility only of those candidates who meet the strict qualifications established by Congress.

• Checkoff dollars are given only to Presidential candidates who demonstrate broad national support.
  
• General election nominees must agree not to accept any private contributions (from individuals or PACs, for example).
  
• Candidates must promise not to spend more than $50,000 of their own money on their campaign.
  
• Recipients of public funds must adhere to a limit on total spending.
  

The presidential public financing system has long been under attack in Congress, dating back to its origins in 1966. Congress routinely debates ending public financing and the tax checkoff program. Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.) summarized this sentiment in Congress when speaking in favor of the “Termination of Presidential Elections Campaign Act” (H.R. 191): “The public has overwhelmingly rejected the (public) campaign funds as is illustrated by declining participation rates (in the tax checkoff program).”

The argument that taxpayers are voting against the public financing system with their dollars is a far stretch. In every public opinion poll regarding public financing of campaigns – whether public financing is described in its most favorable light as “clean elections” or its least favorable light of “tax dollars” – the percentage of respondents supporting public financing ranges anywhere from a high of 70 percent to a low of 30 percent – much higher than the taxpayer participation rate. Apparently, the motivation for or against participation in the checkoff program is affected by more than support or opposition to public financing.

When participation in the tax checkoff program was at its steepest decline in the early 1990s, the FEC conducted focus-group opinion-polling on what motivates taxpayers to participate in the tax checkoff program. The results showed that most taxpayers knew very little about the program. About 15 percent of taxpayers did not designate either box on their tax forms. Among those who checked “yes” there was a great deal of uncertainty as to how the money would be used or even why the tax checkoff exists. Perhaps even more revealing were the reasons given by those who checked “no.” The most common reason given for not participating in the program was: “No particular reason/Don’t know” (23 percent). This was followed by: “They don’t need my money/They have plenty of money” (17 percent); “Don’t/Won’t give to politicians or political causes” (15 percent); and “Don’t want to expend $1” (13 percent). The last category indicates a misunderstanding of the checkoff program.