Lawmaker Fed Up With Tax Donations

The New York Assemblywoman hopes her fellow lawmakers rethink the use of those tiny boxes on state income tax forms that allow residents to donate to charities.

The problem? Over the years, the number of charities listed on the forms has ballooned but donations haven't.

Calhoun, an Orange County Republican, has tried to speak on the Assembly floor about the issue whenever a new checkoff box comes up. She's been largely unsuccessful at persuading her colleagues to stop adding new charities.

"They don't want to be labeled against cancer research," she said. "Everybody says 'You're absolutely right, but I can't vote that way.'"

Nationally, the checkoff practice started in 1972, when the federal government allowed taxpayers to designate $1 to a presidential campaign fund. States soon followed suit, beginning with Colorado's implementation of its wildlife program in 1977. As other states created them, most allowed taxpayers to decide how much they could donate.

In 2003, the most recent data available, at least 41 states and the District of Columbia had tax checkoff programs, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. That year, at least 220 checkoff programs were available to taxpayers around the country up from 103 checkoff programs in 1989.

New York's growing list is nothing compared to those in Oregon and Virginia.

In Oregon, 8,624 fewer residents supported AIDS/HIV education and services in 2005 than in 1992; they contributed more than $10,000 less. That doesn't mean fewer Oregonians care about AIDS/HIV it's just that 17 more charities have been given checkoff boxes since 2002, including those for children, the state aquarium and Special Olympics.

With 24 charities approved to be on the tax form, only 12 make it onto Oregon's tax paperwork each year, with two blank boxes where taxpayers can decide to contribute separately, state officials said. The state rotates the charities every two years.