The Nation: Choosing the Checkoff

Public financing of presidential elections would relieve a national concern magnified by Watergate: the unhealthy dependence of major candidates on large private donations. In 1971, Congress passed legislation that amounted to a kind of camel's nose of public financing. It permitted each taxpayer to check a box on his income tax form to indicate that $1 of his taxes ($2 for a couple filing jointly) should go into a fund for presidential campaigns.

But the Administration was not enthusiastic about the idea, and when the Internal Revenue Service offered the option last year it put the checkoff box on a form separate from the regular 1040 form; worse, it hardly publicized the option at all. The result: only 3.1% of taxpayers checked off the box, and a mere $3,993,000 was collected.

After considerable pressure, including a suit brought by Common Cause, the IRS is now publicizing the option in radio and television spots as well as magazine and newspaper ads. The service has featured the checkoff box prominently on its regular form 1040. There is even a delayed checkoff box for those who missed the chance to contribute last year. According to a sampling of early returns, an average 13% of taxpayers are choosing the checkoff. If the trend holds up in this and succeeding years, the fund is expected to reach $50 million by 1976. That would mean $25 million for each major-party candidate&—far less than the $60.2 million lavished on Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign or even the $36 million put out for Mc-Govern—but a reasonable start on waging independent campaigns.