Potter Stewart

“ The same taxpayer, however, is unlikely to incur substantially increased living expenses as a result of business travel, however far he may go, so long as he does not find it necessary to stop for lodging. One Amicus curiae brief filed in this case asserts that 'those who travel considerable distances such as (on) a one-day jet trip between New York and Chicago' spend more for 'comparable meals (than) those who remain at their home base' and urges that all who travel 'substantial distances' should therefore be permitted to deduct the entire cost of their meals. ”

“ Any rule in this area must make some rather arbitrary distinctions, [14] but at least the sleep or rest rule avoids the obvious inequity of permitting the New Yorker who makes a quick trip to Washington and back, missing neither his breakfast nor his dinner at home, to deduct the cost of his lunch merely because he covers more miles than the salesman who travels locally and must finance all his meals without the help of the Federal Treasury. ”

“ We disagree. The language of the statute-'meals and lodging * * * away from home'-is obviously not self-defining. [16] And to the extent that the words chosen by Congress cut in either direction, they tend to support rather than defeat the Commissioner's position, for the statute speaks of 'meals and lodging' as a unit, suggesting-at least arguably-that Congress contemplated a deduction for the cost of meals only where the travel in question involves lodging as well. ”

“ The benefits of § 162 (a) (2) are limited to business travel 'away from home,' and all meal expenses incurred in the course of such travel are deductible, however unrelated they may be to the taxpayer's income-producing activity. To ask that the definition of 'away from home' be responsive to the business necessity of the taxpayer's meals is to demand the impossible.↑ In considering the proposed 1954 Code, Congress heard a taxpayer plea for a change in the rule disallowing deductions for meal expenses on one-day trips. ”