[EL] Tax incentives for political giving

[Smith, Brad]

See this 2006 article by Robt. Boatright, Donald Green, and Michael Malbin. http://apr.sagepub.com/content/34/5/563.full.pdf+html.  For what little it is worth (very little)I did make this recommendation in a short  piece, "A Moderate, Modern Campaign Finance Reform Agenda," 12 Nexus 3, 17 (2007) (not to imply it is some original or particularly innovative idea). At that time I noted that the federal credit in 1978 (the last time Congress adjusted the number) would be equal to over $300 on a joint return in 2007 dollars. The Boatright et al piece focuses on Ohio, which limits the credit to just $50. In any case, it appears approximately 1% to 8% use the credit, but there is reason to believe it could be significantly higher if the amounts were larger.

I support the use of such credits in part because they send the message that political participation is a good thing that citizens should consider doing, rather than a bad thing they should want no part of, which is the message I think many citizens have taken from years of "corruption" rhetoric.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of David Adamany
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 4:25 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] Tax incentives for political giving


I'm catching up with the avalanche of posts in the past week.   On July 21, Rick's blog noted that John McGinnis at SCOTUSReports had suggested tax credits for political contributions made by persons with incomes below $100,000.   In the period of reform zeal during the 1970s, both the federal government and a number of states tried tax deduction and tax credit arrangements.   Early evidence then was that very, very few people availed themselves of such tax benefits in the states that had them or on federal tax returns.  The numbers were well below the numbers who checked off a dollar for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.   See Tax Notes, Vol VII, No. 1 (July 3, 1978).  Are there recent studies of actual state tax or federal tax data that show that tax deductions or credits have become more attractive to people or are more widely used in states that continue to have such systems?


David Adamany
Laura Carnell Professor of Law
and Political Science, and
Chancellor
1810 Liacouras Walk, Ste 330
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215) 204-9278


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