There are several different sources of campaign funds for American election candidates, including public campaign funds, personal donations, corporate subsidies and input from the Political Action Committee (PAC). Although there are many kinds, these campaign funds are all from voluntary contributions and are strictly regulated. Taxpayers who don't want to pay for the election don't have to spend a penny. According to the Federal Election Activities Act, eligible presidential candidates can obtain public funds for their election activities from the special funds reserved by the US Treasury Department. Although it is called a public fund, the money is not collected directly from taxpayers in the form of taxes. It is entirely raised voluntarily by American taxpayers, who can choose to donate $3 to the fund from the annual federal income tax. However, in order to be eligible to use public funds, candidates must meet certain qualifications and accept a series of restrictions: candidates must raise an equivalent donation of $5,000 in each of the 20 States. Candidates can accept public funds in the pre-election, in the general election, or in both the pre-election and the general election. However, once public funds are accepted, the expenditure limits and other restrictions set by the Federal Election Commission must be observed. To obtain public funds, we only need enough support to create an open and reasonable competitive environment for candidates to participate in the nomination. On the other hand, because the use of public campaign funds means giving up independent fundraising and accepting the upper limit of public campaign funds as the upper limit of their own campaign funds (in 2008, the upper limit of public campaign funds was $83 million), many candidates, including Obama, will give up this financial support and seek private fundraising instead.
2. From fundraising: Supporters can support candidates through voluntary donations.
In order to prevent money and special interest groups from improperly influencing politics, the American election law has strict regulations on political donations. For a candidate's campaign, the maximum personal donation shall not exceed $2,400. The strict donation ceiling is a drop in the bucket compared with millions or hundreds of millions of campaign expenses, which makes candidates have to rely on the donations of thousands of ordinary voters. Candidates can also get funding from the Political Action Committee (PAC) if they can't get enough money from individual donations. For example, in 2008, 65,438+0/3 and 65,438+0/5 of the campaign funds for the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively came from PAC. However, the United States federal election law also has strict regulations and restrictions on PAC's political contributions. For each candidate's campaign (primary election, general election or special election), the maximum amount donated by the Political Action Committee is $5,000, and the money given by a Political Action Committee to a national political party shall not exceed $65,438+$05,000 per year. Any PAC must be registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) within 10 days after its establishment, and the PAC is also funded by voluntary donations from individuals and enterprises.
3. Candidates can also participate in the election out of their own pockets.
Another source of campaign funds is the candidates themselves. Candidates can rely on their own wealth and even borrow money to stand for election. According to the ruling of the Supreme Court 1976 "Buckley v. Valeo", there is no upper limit for the use of personal assets in elections. Although there is no legal upper limit for running for election with personal assets, the results of these candidates are often unsatisfactory. In the 2008 general election, Romney paid $44 million for his campaign. However, voters didn't buy it at that time. Romney only stays in the * * * and the party. This year, Romney did not pay for himself, but rushed all the way to the finish line.
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