Comments on: Mileage deduction, and why it should be equalized–by being eliminated

By: Gasoline and poor people «

Gasoline and poor people « — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:01:25 +0000

[...] and poor people Jump to Comments In earlier postings the Nonprofiteer has been uncompromisingly hard-ass about the impact of the price of gas on [...]

By: Anita Bernstein

Anita Bernstein — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:33:25 +0000

I think we all agree that anyone who volunteers to put out fires in remote locations should not be discouraged from using a combustion engine to do the job. As I understand it, the vast majority of deduction-takers are claiming credit for slower travel with nobody’s life hanging in the balance. Why not have firefighting and meals-on-wheels nonprofits incorporate with their own IRC subsection number, meaning that volunteer work for these (and only these) organizations would be eligible for a mileage deduction?

By: Nonprofiteer

Nonprofiteer — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:49:01 +0000

I absolutely think volunteers should have some of their costs offset–my harsh response was not to the fact of volunteerism but to the fact of driving. Professor Bernstein’s suggestion that we offer a non-driving deduction or credit of some sort to make up for what volunteers are losing makes perfect sense to me as a way to encourage people to assist without rewarding them for using a nonrenewable resource whose true cost isn’t reflected in its price. Of course the members of a volunteer fire department are, like those who deliver meals on wheels, engaged in an activity that requires driving; but even in a VFD there are probably ways to reduce driving without reducing service. My argument is that when we’re subsdizing things through the tax code we should subsidize the things we truly want–volunteer services–not things that stand in for them. That doesn’t mean the firefighters should be stuck with the whole cost themselves: a fundraising appeal for a volunteer fire department emphasizing the rising cost of gasoline–”We can’t reach you if we’re running on empty”–should be quite effective in creating a fund from which individual firefighters could be partly reimbursed.

By: Volunteer Fire Department President

Volunteer Fire Department President — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:53:23 +0000

I would tend to disagree with this assessment for volunteer fire departments. With the price of fuel increasing, it is significantly more difficult for our members to justify responding to calls that are probably going to be silly, such as “Automatic Fire Alarm”, “Investigation”, “Traffic Control”, and even things like “Difficulty Breathing”.

Whether or not you think that volunteers should have some of their costs offset (which in many cases then reduce the cost to taxpayers as services that do not have to be provided by government), there are some volunteer organizations such as ours, where MORE should be done to encourage people to join so when you call 911 you aren’t wondering why we aren’t coming.

By: Anita Bernstein

Anita Bernstein — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:25:22 +0000

It’s definitely time to get rid of the mileage deduction, but when we take it away we should give volunteers something in exchange; if we don’t, we might jeopardize their showing up. I’d like to see non-driving alternatives qualify for an enlarged deduction of some kind–maybe twice the out-of-pocket fare for those who use public transportation and, for non-urban volunteers, a flat deduction for choosing a van-pool arrangement. Effects on the U.S. fisc would be trivial in proportion to the large and urgent PR message.