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with volunteering, such as child care, meals and telephone calls. The cumulative effect of these costs serves as a disincentive to voluntarism. This could be partially modified by the legislation being considered here today.

Last year, when we appeared before this committee, we cited a question posed by the Junior League of Eugene, Oregon, at a meeting of Junior Leagues in the northwest. We think that statement is still relevant:

Will...voluntarism become a luxury that many of our
members can no longer afford? Even as we sit here today
we are confronted with the fact that our hours of labor
donated to our communities are not evaluated on the same
plane as the hours of labor put in by the businessman or
businesswoman. While we altruistically give of our time
the businessperson's time yields monetary gains. Mileage
incurred on our "job" may be deducted at 9 cents per mile
while the businessperson deducts 20 cents per mile. Child
care comes straight from the pocket of the volunteer with
young children while the businesswoman takes a tax credit
for child care expenses incurred during her work day...

The Association of Junior Leagues is committed to ensuring that voluntarism does not become a luxury for its members or any other member of our society. We believe our society would be gravely impaired by a loss of the sense of caring and serving that voluntarism encompasses. We urge this subcommittee to help the spirit of voluntarism flourish by recommending passage of legislation to make the volunteer mileage deduction equal to that granted a businessman or the reimbursement rate set for government employees who use their own cars on government business. We strongly believe that it is unfair for the federal government to place increasing demands on volunteers without providing recognition and support for their

work. An adjustment in the volunteer mileage deduction is long overdue. We urge this subcommittee to take the leadership on this issue by reporting out the volunteer mileage legislation.

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today.

Sandra Crawford

Chairman, Public Policy Committee

The Association of Junior Leagues, Inc.

Ms. CRAWFORD. The Association of Junior League is an international women's voluntary organization with 148,000 members and 243 leagues in the United States. Every active member of a Junior League must make a commitment to a volunteer position. In addition, Junior Leagues develop projects and raise funds for community programs. During 1981-82, Junior Leagues sponsored 1,740 projects in their communities and netted more than $14 million from various fund raisers. The monies raised by these Junior League fundraisers is used to support projects in the community, such as services to children and their families, the aged, drug abusers, and battered women, as well as programs concerned with the arts, conservation, and protection of the environment. These programs are made possible by Junior League volunteers who often drive long distances to their volunteer jobs. In fact, in large metropolitan areas, it is not uncommon for a Junior League member to make a round trip of 50 miles in order to get to her volunteer assignment. In my own league, which covers eight counties surrounding Philadelphia, some of our members travel in excess of 75 miles round trip. However, many Junior League members, including the Junior League of Philadelphia members, and other volunteers, are becoming reluctant to make firm commitments to regular volunteer placements which are many miles from their homes. High gasoline cost and the refusal of the Internal Revenue Service to allow volunteers an adequate deduction for mileage costs in computing their Federal income taxes jeopardizes the quality and, in some cases, the very existence of many vital programs. The volunteers' response to this high cost of driving may be the cut from once to twice weekly involvement to maybe only once every 2 weeks or even once a month. This could especially harm programs such as Meals on Wheels or tutoring programs which require brief but frequent time commitment.

In fact, the difficulty of recruiting and keeping volunteers for the Meals on Wheels program served as a catalyst for passage of Colorado's volunteer mileage deduction legislation. The Junior League of Denver turned to their State representative, Eunice Fine, a Re

publican from Greeley, Colo., who has a blind mother, who lives alone. This mother receives deliveries from Wheels on Meals. When Meals on Wheels had difficulty recruiting volunteers because of the cost of driving and the low mileage deduction allowed volunteers, the mother's deliveries were in jeopardy. Representative Fine could not travel to Denver to attend sessions of the legislature unless her mother received these meals. As a result, Representative Fine sponsored legislation for State volunteer mileage deduction.

Junior Leagues in Iowa, Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, and Oregon have also supported the passage of volunteer mileage deductions in their own States.

Volunteer mileage deductions are based on out-of-pocket expenses-gas and oil-while those for businessmen and Government workers are based on all the costs involved. Volunteer mileage deduction is only 9 cents a mile while that for businessmen is 20 cents and for Government workers, 20.5 cents. The Federal Government's refusal to allow volunteers the same mileage deduction as that granted businessmen not only is a failure to focus on the actual cost of operating a car, it also indicates that the Government does not consider the service of volunteers to be of equal value to society as those provided by paid employees.

The Association of Junior Leagues is committed to insuring that volunteerism does not become a luxury for its members or any of the other 84 million volunteers who give their time valued at $64.5 billion each year. We believe our society would be greatly impaired by a loss of the sense of caring and serving that volunteerism encompasses. We urge the subcommittee to help the spirit of volunteerism flourish, recommending passage of legislation to make a volunteer mileage deduction equal to that granted a businessman or the reimbursement rate set for Government employees. We strongly believe that it is unfair for the Federal Government to place increasing demands on volunteers without providing recognition and support for their work. We urge this subcommittee to take the leadership on this issue by reporting out the volunteer mileage legislation. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. Senator ARMSTRONG. Well thank you very much. We appreciate your statement. Mr. Miller?

STATEMENT OF JOSEPH E. MILLER, JR., ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION, THE AMERICAN LEGION

Mr. MILLER. I am Joseph E. Miller, Mr. Chairman, the assistant director of the National Legislative Commission of the American Legion. With your permission, I would like to summarize and paraphrase my comments, and have the entire statement included for the record.

Senator ARMSTRONG. Yes, we would like to put the entire statement in the record, and we are glad to have your additional comments.

[The prepared statement of Joseph E. Miller, Jr., follows:]

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24-860 O

JOSEPH E. MILLER, JR., ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION

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STATEMENT OF JOSEPH E. MILLER, JR., ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION

THE AMERICAN LEGION

BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TAXATION AND DEBT MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

UNITED STATES SENATE
AUGUST 1, 1983

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee on Taxation and Debt Management, The American Legion is pleased to appear before you today to present its views in support of S. 1167 and S. 1579, proposed legislation that would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to increase the volunteer mileage deduction to the same level enjoyed by persons engaged in using privately owned vehicles (POV) for business and government activities. The American Legion, perhaps the nation's largest volunteer organization, strongly encourages the enactment of the proposals of Senator Durenberger and Senator Armstrong to correct an inequity in the treatment of volunteers who use their POV's for volunteer related activities.

Since the birth of our organization on March 17, 1919, The American Legion has been actively involved in this country's volunteer efforts. In fact, one of the primary goals of our initial meeting was to create, "a fraternity dedicated to the equitable treatment of all veterans, particularly the disabled, their widows and orphans". Six months later, meeting in St. Louis, The American Legion finalized its preamble which concluded with the mission "to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness" (emphasis added).

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