Standard Home Office Deduction Proposed – Again
Jun 16th, 2008 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Politics & PolicyRepresentative John McHugh, Republican of New York, introduced legislation last week that would create a standard deduction for business use of the home. His deduction would be $1,500 and would be indexed to inflation. This might be much more exciting news if it weren’t for the fact that there are already two other bills with standard home-office deduction provisions stalled in Congress — and both of those were introduced in early 2007. As much as microbusiness owners have been pining for this one for a very long time, it is clearly not on anybody’s priority list. Then, too, House Democrats would almost certainly want to find tax offsets to cover the cost of the plan, which would start a fight with House Republicans (and maybe even Senate Democrats). I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one. My hunch is that, if the House leadership wants to pick a fight with the GOP, they will pick some more photogenic issues with which to do it.
