Will Millennials Accelerate the Volunteer Mileage Deduction?

Please give a warm welcome to a new Social Citizens blogger — Rich D’Amato, the Case Foundation’s very own VP of Communications. He likes cooking, playing golf, and building cross-generational partnerships between social citizens. Enjoy! — Kari

On Monday morning my inbox held a bit of a surprise. The Maryland Association of Nonprofits [1], as usual, had sent me a call to action, this time asking me to Urge Congress to Raise the Volunteer Mileage Deduction [2].

The what? I didn’t know that I could deduct taxable income for miles I traveled volunteering. Cool. But here’s the surprise: “While the IRS has recently increased the deduction for business travel from 50.5 to 58.5 cents per mile, and for medical or moving expense from 19 to 27 cents per mile, the volunteer deduction amount is set in law at 14 cents per mile and requires congressional action for any change.”

Outrage!!! Fourteen cents per mile to volunteer and a whopping 27 cents to rent a U-haul! What’s wrong with this picture?

Sure people have to work, and everybody needs to go to the doctor. And, yes, moving is expensive. Still, can’t we maybe agree — at least on the tax schedule, if not on the value meter — that volunteering belongs somewhere in the middle and not at the bottom?

Naturally, my inner social citizen was roused. So, I wrote my Congresswoman (you know, the one without a vote in Congress, District of Columbia Representative Eleanor Holmes-Norton [3] … but that’s another story).

And then it struck me, at least so far as my work with (and research-informed opinion of) Millennials and civic engagement is concerned. With their oft-cited feelings that government doesn’t matter and that the private sector is more likely to solve problems and address the issues that matter to them, would Millennials (today’s uber-social citizens, connected, active, immersed) support an increase in the deduction?

Once increased, would Millennials lead the way and take the deduction? Or would they leave the money on the table? They do seem to take the tuition credits associated with AmeriCorps (as generations before them did). They seem cool with lowering student loan payments based on participation in programs that recruit urban teachers (as generations before them did). They appear to support paid time off from private sector jobs for volunteering (as generations before them have). But as for getting vocal on changing government policy in ways that would encourage people to get more engaged (or at least offset some of the costs of that engagement), would they step it up?

My snarky side says nah, probably not. Unless, of course, writing their Congressman could enter them to win dinner for two at any given TGI Friday. Maybe that’s the ticket. Forget government policy. It’s time for government-sponsored gift certificates and prize giveaways!

Seriously, though, what relative value do social citizens see in government policies (or programs), tax or otherwise, intended to encourage greater engagement and more altruistic behavior? Are they worth as much or as likely to move behavior as that dinner for two or gift certificate? You tell me—I’d love to hear.