Why does the IRS ask us if we want money donated to the Presidential Election Fund if it doesn’t affect our tax return? Why can’t the government just decide how much to put into the Fund?
Participating in the fund is voluntary because taxpayers who want to vote for - say the Green Party candidate would be understandably angry if even a dollar of their taxes went to a fund that wouldn’t give funding to the Greens.
I believe the threshold for qualifying for federal matching funds is something like 5% of the vote, so the smaller, third-party candidates don’t qualify.