House Votes to End Taxpayer Funding of U.S. Presidential Elections

 You may notice something missing when you go to do your taxes next year.  Or maybe you won't.  A single box will be removed from 2011, one which lawmakers say is unnecessary and a waste of money:

"House lawmakers on January 26 approved a measure to end the post-Watergate-era option of allowing taxpayers to check a box on their federal tax returns to designate $3 of their tax liability to finance presidential campaigns. Introduced by Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the bill (HR 359) would amend the tax code to prohibit taxpayers from financing the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account. Cole said that only 7 percent of American's support the program, which he called a frivolous waste of federal spending used to pay for political party conventions and to prop up the candidacies of long-shot presidential hopefuls."

However you may feel about the program, expect a sleeker tax form to hit your desks early next year.