Lawmaker fed up with tax donations

As tax time nears, Nancy Calhoun is fighting a mostly losing skirmish to stop her state's forms from lengthening — however slightly.

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.

Virginia's 2007 tax forms have 25 checkoffs, but a charity can't stay on the list unless it gets at least $10,000 in contributions for the previous three years.

In New York, the practice started in 1983, when the Legislature created a box allowing taxpayers to make a donation to the Return a Gift to Wildlife fund by having the amount subtracted from their return. Between 1984 and 1987, more than 300,000 taxpayers donated to the fund each year, bringing in between $1.6 million and $1.7 million to the cause annually.

In 2007, only 37,117 people donated to the cause, bringing in $475,763.

The difference is, since 1997, lawmakers added six more charities to the list, seemingly pitting causes against each other.

"They've taken money away from one very good cause, spread it all across many and I think most people when they see them, they just glaze over and skip all of them," said Calhoun.

Calhoun said she supports all the charities involved, but maintains it is not the right way to raise funds. Adding causes wastes paper and money, takes funds from other charities and adds more confusion, she said.

New York's Assembly has 11 bills in committee that would create new charity checkoffs, and the Senate has 12. California also has four bills for new checkoff contributions, but all of them are stuck in committee, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.

One of the checkoff beneficiaries in New York is the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. A spokesman said he recognized the predicament.

"It could be that all the charities that are seeking support are perhaps affecting all the other ones too," said Sandy Caligiore, a spokesman for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the training center. "Not to say one is more qualified or better than another, but we are just trying to do what we can within our mission."

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On the Net:

N.Y. tax department: http://www.nystax.gov