Sam Johnson’s cell-phone fix passes the House
Washington,
Apr 15 -
Today common-sense legislation authored by U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Johnson’s measure, The MOBILE (Modernize Our Bookkeeping In the Law for Employee’s) Cell Phone Act, H.R. 5450, would update the tax treatment of cell phones and Blackberries used for business and repeal the requirement that employers and employees maintain detailed logs of cell phone use.
The House approved Johnson’s initiative as part of the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008, H.R. 5719, that passed the House 238 - 179. Johnson, who sits on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, swiftly pushed his cell phone proposal through Congress.
A constituent concern generated the concept for Johnson’s legislation. In February, a lawyer from North Texas contacted the Congressman on behalf of a client. The IRS wanted the client to keep records on employee cell phone and Blackberry use or forfeit the deduction. Given the tremendous advances in this technology, Johnson thought the IRS should modernize the tax code as quickly as possible.
“Picture a cell phone in 1989. Back then, cell phones were the size of a shoe, it required a suitcase to carry the battery, and each minute cost a small mint. 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. Those rules made sense back then. Fast forward to today. Clearly, time and technology have marched on. It’s time that we update this outdated law,” said Johnson.
Because Democrats loaded up the tax simplification bill with unrelated items, Johnson voted against the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008.
Johnson represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.
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