Volunteer Mileage Talking Points

The Internal Revenue Service is authorized to adjust the “standard business mileage rate” for the use of vehicles for business purposes. When the IRS in 2008 adjusted the business mileage rate upwards to 58.5 cents per mile, it noted that “rising gas prices are having a major impact on individual Americans.” Although America’s volunteers suffered equally from the same rising gas prices, the IRS could not adjust their rate because a federal statute adopted more than a decade ago - when gas was cheaper - locks in the charitable mileage rate at a substandard 14 cents per mile.  The IRS set the standard business mileage rate for 2010 at 50 cents per mile.

• A substandard charitable mileage rate is not enough at the practical level: It costs volunteers as much to fill up their gas tanks as it does for paid employees.

• A substandard charitable mileage rate is not enough at the technical level:  In setting the “standard business mileage rate,” the IRS reportedly uses a formula that factors in the full costs for a business to operate a vehicle for more than just occasional use, which is a reason cited for why volunteers have been excluded. But the federal government still allows its employees to use that rate, even for just occasional use of their cars, and business employees may use that rate, even if they are just temporary part-time employees. In addition, many of America’s volunteers use their cars extensively when they volunteer, especially in states with vast rural areas.

• A substandard charitable mileage rate is not enough at the fundamental fairness level: If people are providing services to others – as paid business employees, paid government employees, or unpaid volunteers – they should be treated equally. The tax code should not discriminate against those who spend their time helping others.

• A substandard charitable mileage rate is not enough at the human level: The substandard charitable rate, combined with soaring gas prices in 2008, forced many Americans to stop volunteering. Consequently, the old federal statute put at risk Americans who had been served by invaluable volunteers: individuals who depend on getting their Meals-on-Wheels dinner delivered, disabled veterans who depended on volunteers to drive them to doctors, and homebound seniors in rural areas who depend on having volunteers deliver their prescriptions – all because volunteers could no longer afford to help.