Mileage Rate Hike Won’t Help Professional Drivers, Advocates Say

Advocates and labor organizers say the IRS’s rare move to increase the business mileage deduction rate mid-year doesn’t do much to ease the inflationary pressure on ride-hailing and taxicab drivers dealing with high gas prices.

Karen O’Byrne, president and interim CEO of Motus, the workforce management company that provides the data on which the IRS bases its rate, said it’s only the third mid-year rate increase since 2008. The agency upped the rate to 62.5 cents per mile from 58.5 cents, effective July 1 through the end of the year. Mileage incurred in the first half of the year can ...