House measure would eliminate cell phone logs for taxes

AP Texas News © 2008 The Associated Press
April 16, 2008

WASHINGTON — The House approved a measure sponsored by a Dallas-area lawmaker that eliminates a rule requiring employers and their workers to keep logs of cell phone use for tax purposes.

Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, voted against the larger bill containing his measure because he said Democrats loaded it with unrelated items. The overall bill, designed to make the nation's tax system simpler and fairer, passed 238-179.

Johnson's office said in a statement that the idea for the provision came when an attorney contacted them on behalf of a constituent who was told by the IRS he would forfeit a tax deduction if he didn't keep records of cell phone use.

Johnson said the law applied to technology dating back two decades, when a mobile phone was "the size of a shoe."

"Around that time, a law was put in place to require that detailed log sheets be kept by employees of their cell phone use in order to document their business use," Johnson said. "Clearly, time and technology have marched on."

Johnson is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax laws.

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