Just $6: The Math

Funding every single race for the House, the Senate and the Presidency would cost each American citizen just $6 a year. Compare that to the hundreds of billions of dollars spent each year on "pork barrel" projects that representatives use to reward their wealthy contributors.

The amount of public funding allocated for each election must be high enough to allow the candidates to make voters sufficiently aware of their positions and views to make an informed choice. We estimate that the total cost of funding for all federal races — President/Vice President, Senate and House — will be approximately $1.8 billion per year, which works out to just $6 for each of the nearly 300 millions citizens of our country. This amount would not be paid directly by each citizen, but would rather come out of the federal budget (either from the general or from revenue raised specifically to support public funding).

To put that $1.8 billion figure in perspective, the total federal budget in 2008 was roughly $3 trillion.

In calculating this estimate, we have made the following assumptions:

1. Overall campaign expenses will drop by at least 25% because costs for fund-raising (other than for initial seed money) will be eliminated for those who accept public funding;
2. At least one candidate in each race will decline public funds and choose to use personal funds or raise private money in accordance with current laws;
3. All candidates must generate broad public support to meet the qualifying requirements to receive public funds;
4. In primaries, incumbents will face challenges from more candidates with financing sufficient to inform voters of their positions and policies;
5. To assure that voters learn about lesser-known candidates, every candidate who meets the qualifying requirements will receive public funds regardless of the number of competitors in a primary;
6. Special elections, occurring at random for various federal offices, are estimated to cost an additional $30 million per year.

Conclusions