Tax Deduction for Dog Owners
Should Taxpayers Get an Exemption for Pet Expenses?
Many pet owners have likely remarked at tax time how nice it would be if they could claim an exemption for pet expenses on the income tax return. After all, most people consider their pets a part of the family and those dog chow and vaccination bills can add up over a year’s time.
Tax Deduction Proposed for Pet Care Costs
In July of 2009, U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan introduced in Congress the House Resolution 3501 also known as Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years, or HAPPY Act. This legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a tax deduction for qualified pet care expenses up to $3500. A qualified pet is defined as a legally owned, domesticated, live animal while veterinary care fees, although not acquisition fees, would be a qualified expense.
No doubt this legislation would defray some of the costs incurred by pet owners, however, Rasmussen Reports, an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information, conducted a national telephone survey and found that only 25% of voters are in favor of the plan.
Voters Opposing the HAPPY Act
Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman Steve Ellis claims the exemption would make no sense at a time of trillion dollar government budget deficits.
Others suggest that people will begin collecting animals simply for the tax break, although no deduction could be made for the cost of acquiring pets, only for pet care expenses already incurred.
Kim Peterson wrote for topStocks moneyblog, “… it seems to me that if you choose to have a pet, you should be able to pay for it.”
Voters Supporting the HAPPY Act
In response to Peterson’s article, one reader commented, “Why can’t we hold ourselves to that rule when it comes to paying for the broods of kids people have and the tax breaks they receive but working the minimum if at all? I see no difference.”
Supporters of the bill include major animal-friendly organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
HSUS blogger, Michael Markarian, said the bill would help recognize that pets are part of the family. The PIJAC holds that it would reduce the number of pets turned over to shelters by families struggling in the economic downturn. Some supporters suggest that the bill could be monetarily justified if pets were made more affordable in the tough economy causing fewer pets to be surrendered and fewer tax dollars to be spent on sheltering and euthanizing abandoned animals.
With the majority of American households owning pets, the proposal has major implications. Controversy will surely continue as the legislature debates.
Citizens may be interested in reading the HAPPY Act online.
Pet owners may also be interested in learning if pet insurance would help them with veterinary expenses.
Source:
Tax Deduction Sought for U.S. Pet Owners -- Cohen Co-Sponsors Bill to Defray Costs of Care Aimed at Preventing Abandonment by Bartholomew Sullivan
Pet Expenses May Be a Tax Deduction
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