Dear highvoltageblond-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. The
?checkoff? as it is called, was launched in 1973 and allowed taxpayers
to divert $1 to offset the costs of the presidential campaign. Today,
that same dollar (adjusted for inflation) is worth about .36 cents.
Oddly enough the first talk about the need for such a law happened in
1904 when Representative William Bourke Cockran suggested it.
President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 also breached the subject
briefly, as a means of curbing corruption by reducing (if not
eliminating) the role of private money in elections.
The tax checkoff program for presidential elections however would not
become law until the Presidential Election Campaign Act of 1966 (P.L.
89-809), sponsored by Sen. Russell Long (D-La).
?With the support of President Johnson, the public financing measure
was approved by Congress as a rider on an unrelated bill. Long?s
proposal would have provided about $30 million in public subsidies to
each political party to use in the presidential campaigns in the
general election. Long?s public financing program was to be funded
through an unusual mechanism: a $1voluntary tax checkoff on federal
income taxes that individuals could earmark to the Presidential
Election Campaign Fund.?
FIXING THE VOLUNTARY TAX CHECKOFF PROGRAM TO FUND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/CFR_Checkoff.pdf
The following year an opposition movement to Long?s bill, headed up by
Senator Al Gore, Sr., successfully ended the bill?s power and put the
issue on inactive status. (P.L. 90-26)
In 1971 Senator John Pastore (D-R.I.) resurrected the concept and
reintroduced the public financing and tax checkoff program as part of
the Revenue Act of 1971 and on January 1, 1973 the Act (P.L. 92-178)
became law and the campaign contribution option was put into effect.
Today taxpayers can contribute $3 (or $6 of a joint filing) to the
presidential public financing system (the Presidential Election
Campaign Fund), which is almost entirely funded by a voluntary tax
checkoff program.
You can follow some of my links and get a very good historical
overview of the original legislation. I hope you find that my research
exceeds your expectations. If you have any questions about my research
please post a clarification request prior to rating the answer.
Otherwise I welcome your rating and your final comments and I look
forward to working with you again in the near future. Thank you for
bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SOURCES
OPEN SECRETS
?THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN FUND AND TAX CHECKOFF?
http://www.opensecrets.org/2000elect/other/presfund/CRS_s95-824.htm
Defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Checkoff
1973
The presidential public financing system
Presidential Election Campaign Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-809)
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971 (P.L. 92-225)
(P.L. 92-178)
1974 FECA Amendments (P.L. 93-443)
S.3044: An original bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 to provide for public financing of primary and general election
campaigns for Federal elective office, and to amend certain other
provisions of law relating to the financing and conduct of such
campaigns.
Sponsor: Sen Cannon .- LATEST ACTION: 10/15/74 Public law 93-443.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/gourl?URL=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fbdquery%2FL%3Fd093%3A.%2Flist%2Fbd%2Fd093pl.lst%3A401%5B1-650%5D%28Public_Laws%29%7CTOM%3A%2Fbss%2Fd093query.html%7C
[26 U.S.C.§ 9001-13, 9031-42]
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66), (this is the
Public law that raised the tax checkoff to $3 ($6 on joint returns).
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/gourl?URL=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fbdquery%2FL%3Fd103%3A.%2Flist%2Fbd%2Fd103pl.lst%3A51%5B1-465%5D%28Public_Laws%29%7CTOM%3A%2Fbss%2Fd103query.html%7C |
