I just finished my Ohio income taxes last night and I noticed a nifty little tax credit that I've never noticed before. It existed in '02 too (I checked) but I've never taken advantage of it. Maybe because pre-Dean I never gave money or thought about giving money to Ohio Democrats.
Note: this is a credit NOT a deduction. You save dollar for dollar on your taxes for money you give to Ohio candidates up to $50 ($100 if married filing joint return).
Here's what the 2003 tax instructions say:
"You can claim a credit against your tax for contributions of money you made during the year to the campaign committee of candidates for any of the following Ohio offices:
-Governor
-Secretary of State
-Treasurer of State
-Chidf Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
-Ohio Board of Education
-Ohio House of Representatives
-Lieutenant Governor
-Auditor of State
-Attorney General
-Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
-Ohio Senate
The amount of the credit is the lesser of the combined total cash contributions you made during the year or $50 ($100 for married filing joint returns)."
Obviously I am not alone in not paying attention to this little credit. If people noticed don't you think that a lot of Democrats would give at least $50 and the campaigns for governor on down the ticket would not be so outgunned financially? In the last governor's election, Taft spent $9 million to beat Tim Hagan, who raised and spent only $1.5 million. I'd say there are at least 200,000 people in the state who dislike Taft enough to give a Democrat running for governor $50 if they know they'll get the money back in the spring and then the Democratic candidate would have $10 million to campaign with.
This needs to be widely publicized to any Democratic leaning friends you have in Ohio. It's too bad that it doesn't count for federal offices (President, Senate, Representatives), but I think if people got used to donating a little to Ohio offices they might open up their wallet for the national offices for which they aren't getting reimbursed.