Taxes, it has been said, are the ”price of civilization.” Still, the annual January reminder from the Internal Revenue Service is never wholly welcome. The forms now being delivered do include one benign box, however. That`s where an X will earmark $1 of any tax you pay to financing presidential elections.
Checking the box adds nothing to your tax bill. It simply tells the Treasury Department to forward $1 to the Federal Elections Commission. It is the box by which you consciously invest in U.S. democracy.
Ironically, at a time when many of the world`s people are reveling in their new-found democracies, many Americans have turned cynical about their own. Less than half of those eligible voted in 1988. Moreover, in 1989 . . . only 19.9 percent chose to earmark $1 for the presidential-campaign fund. . . .
The percentage of taxpayers checking off the box peaked at 28.7 percent in 1980 and has been falling since. At the same time, the cost of campaigns has risen from $69.4 million in 1976 to $155 million in 1988. . . .
There is a valid fear that unless the percentage of taxpayers contributing increases, the fund will be broke after the 1992 election and $100 million short of being able to finance 1996 campaigns. So check the box when you get your form. . . . Those who disdain elections and the right of candidates to be heard also disdain democracy.
