WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service is raising for the remainder of this year the mileage rate that businesses and others can claim for operating costs.

The tax agency says that it will raise the optional standard rates to calculate deductible operating costs for vehicles from 50.5 cents to 58.5 cents a mile.

The IRS says the increase was implemented in light of the major impact that gas prices are having, and at the suggestion of U.S.

Senator Norm Coleman. The Minnesota Republican sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman last week urging him to raise the rate to better reflect rising transportation costs.

Coleman says the rate increase is welcome news for many people due to the dramatic increase in the price of gas.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)