One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if Deductible. Paul Revere submitted an expense account signed by John Hancock for travel expenses and horse rental for the first of his famous rides. He billed the Committee of Correspondence 14 pounds, two shillings for expenses on his Boston-New York trip to deliver the Committee's account of the Boston Tea Party to the Son of Liberty.

Although Paul Revere was reimbursed for that trip, he often rode as a volunteer, paying his own expenses. In that spirit, many Americans work as volunteers for charitable organizations and receive neither compensation nor reimbursement of expenses.

Volunteers who contribute their time certainly aren't motivated by tax breaks. Many probably don't even know as itemizers they're entitled to deduct their unreimbursed expenses incurred in helping charitable organizations.