A wobbly start for public campaign financing.

• Author: Fisher, Karen
• Position: Checkoffs and add-ons

Given a choice between preserving wildlife and financing political campaigns with their checkoffs and add-ons, most voters go with the bald eagles.

One problem with efforts to support state political campaigns with public money is the proliferation of other causes vying for taxpayer contributions. More serious obstacles are the small amount of money available from public sources, and taxpayers' ignorance about how tax checkoffs and add-ons work.

Checkoffs on state income tax forms allow citizens to allocate a dollar or more of their taxes to a political fund. Add-ons let taxpayers donate a portion of their refund to campaigns or other causes. Checkoffs don't increase citizens' tax liability--the donations come out of taxes they would pay anyway; add-ons, or surcharges, are voluntary contributions above the amount owed.

The move toward campaign finance reform at the federal level began as a reaction to Watergate. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 allows taxpayers to use a checkoff on their federal income tax forms to divert $1 of their taxes from the general fund to the presidential campaign fund. Within five years after Watergate, 17 states had passed public financing legislation, many based on the federal law.

Twelve states currently have checkoffs to support political campaigns: Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah and Wisconsin. Taxpayers can designate $1 of their taxes (in six states), $5 (in two states) or amounts in between (four states) for financing elections. When couples file a joint return, they can double the amount of the designation.

The money from checkoffs is distributed by state formulas to candidates, political parties or both. In Michigan, New Jersey and Rhode Island, only gubernatorial candidates receive checkoff money. Hawaii includes not only the governor, but also state senators and representatives, the prosecuting attorney, mayors and other local officials--thus considerably reducing the amount available to any one candidate. In Wisconsin, candidates for governor and the Legislature are eligible.

In Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah, the political parties receive the money from the checkoff. Since 1988, however, North Carolina has also had an add-on program that provides money to candidates. Minnesota gives most of the money raised by checkoffs to candidates, but 10 percent goes to the parties; Rhode Island also divides...