first off personal expenses such as normal clothing and travel to and from work are not deductions and have never been deductions
and there hypothetical example I gave I was NOT referring to a self employed trades person, but one on wages
In the real world there are people who incur real legitimate expenses in earning salary and wages, even an accountant will incur any where between $500 and $1000 a year just to be a member of a professional body, and then incur cost of training course they are required to attend to maintain their membership which can cost any thing up to a few thousand dollars a year.
to say they should not be able to deduct these legitimate expense from their gross income and be tax on the balance is completely foolish
