Sponsor
W. Greg Steube
Representative · R-FL
Representative · R-FL
Official title: To reduce Federal spending and the deficit by terminating taxpayer financing of Presidential election campaigns.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress May 8, 2025
The bill simplifies tax filing and modestly reduces the deficit by transferring leftover public-financing funds to the Treasury, but it ends a small-dollar, taxpayer-funded public financing option—shifting campaign funding choices toward private donors and raising equity and democratic participation concerns.
Taxpayers: Removes the $3 presidential public-financing checkoff from tax returns, simplifying filings by eliminating a rarely used checkbox.
Taxpayers and the general public: Transfers remaining balances from the public financing fund to the Treasury general fund, modestly reducing federal deficits and borrowing needs.
Voters, candidates, and small-dollar donors: Eliminates taxpayer-funded public financing for Presidential campaigns and conventions by ending the $3 checkoff, removing an alternative funding option and reducing a visible mechanism for small-dollar public support.
Taxpayers, candidates, and civic organizations: Redirecting the fund balances to deficit reduction reduces dedicated programmatic support for public elections and increases the likelihood that campaign financing will rely more on large private donors, raising concerns about unequal influence.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Ends the $3 tax-return designation and dissolves the Presidential Election Campaign Fund; remaining balances go to the Treasury general fund.
Ends the Presidential Election Campaign Fund’s taxpayer-designation mechanism and dissolves the related federal accounts for future Presidential elections and conventions. Remaining balances in the fund are to be transferred to the Treasury general fund for deficit reduction on enactment, and the $3 tax return designation is made inapplicable for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024.