It seems quaint now, but there was a time when nearly a third of U.S. taxpayers checked that little box on their income-tax returns authorizing the Internal Revenue Service to allocate $3 of their taxes, $6 for married couples, to help pay for presidential campaigns. In 1976, two years after the Presidential Election Campaign Fund checkoff was created, 28 percent of filers opted into the program. That figure has dwindled to around 3 percent as fewer candidates avail themselves of the money and Congress raids the fund for other things.

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