Tax to Talk has Gotta Go!

With April 15 right around the corner (I'd say seven days is a corner, wouldn't you?), it's a great time to step back and look at one of the many archaic tax laws that saddle you and me and millions of other Americans with unnecessary burdens. In this case, it's a section of  the tax code approved in 1989, that categorized wireless telecommunications devices as "listed property". What that means is anyone who's issued a wireless phone, or a device such as a PDA or Blackberry, by their employer, by law has to itemize the portion of which the device is used for personal reasons, AND that employers and employees are responsible for taking that account into use as personal income on their respective tax filings. Seriously. Uncle Sam expects everyone to pour through their corporate bills, highlight that call home to check on the kids, and make sure that's included in line 43A, or 46B, or whichever line ridiculous expenses should be accounted for. There are a lot of hoops you have to jump through to make sure you've entered the right amounts, and figured the right percentage of use... and so on, and so on. What it boils down to is this: It's an outdated law, written when wireless devices were luxury items and not productivity tools for millions of American workers. Now's the time to get rid of it, and thankfully, H.R. 5450, which has been introduced, would eliminate it. CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent has written a letter to the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Senate Finance Committee, supporting that action, and hopefully Congress will see fit to take the right steps. If you're still trying to claim your dry cleaning as an itemized business deduction, good luck. But this is one I think we all agree needs fixed, and so that American business and workers are no longer taxed to such an onerous and unnecessary degree.