Do we need a doggy tax break? Michigan Rep Thaddeus McCotter thinks so

Okie, did you vote for this clown?

We need to get rid of tax breaks for children and mortgage interest too.

The sad part is that human medical expenses are not deductable until you reach a certain threshold (7.5% of your adjusted gross income). If your AGI is $50k, your first $3,750 in medical expenses are not deductable, but this guy wants pet expenses to be included.

Agreed. There's no doubt that the federal government rewards families and kids with special treatments...

Cycloptichorn

Pets are a luxury item. If you can't afford to take care of one you should not get one. I would not mind if some of my tax money was spent to help animal shelters spay and neuter, but all other costs should be the responsibility of the owner.

I agree that we also get rid of the child and mortgage tax deductions. I think we should reward people for not having children and paying off their mortgages as quickly as possible. Both are better for the country as a whole.

I demand equality for kitties every where!

I'd love to get a dog but I have 5 cats and I don't think they would let the dog live long enough to get the tax break. Now if they allow the tax break for any pet, I'll get 15 more cats and and then I'll have the tax break times 20. 20% off woot!

Then the governement will have to put me in an instituition because I'll qualify as crazy and I'll live off other people's tax monies. Loving this idea!

I was extemely surprised that McCotter's name was on this bill. He is a no-nonsense, very conservative guy and his expertise is in finances.

Bet he's eatin' crow right now about getting involved in this. Some say he's pandering to the senior citizen crowd.

Wow get rid of tax breaks on children?? obviously you dont live on earth or have to work hard for a living or you wouldnt be saying that....every year when i get some money back as a break it helps, now i am not saying have a million babies for a tax break but seriously i have one child to support...putting food on the table, sending him to school, paying for diapers, clothes, and every other thing you can think of on a modest income is dam near impossible. especially with all the layoffs, working 2 jobs sometimes 3 to make ends meet....and i am not unqualified have a 4 year degree collecting dust atm....sorry but get of your high horses....pets are not a luxury not if you look at it from the eyes of a child....if your 4 year old wants only a puppy for Christmas and prays to get one, sacrificing every gift would you or would you not get it for him or her? Wake up people, just because you dont have to shop at dollar stores and you live a blessed life ...does not give you the right to pass judgment on the less fortunate.....we dont ask for handouts we work hard to earn an honest days pay, but life is such that some make 100k while others make 30k....the economy is shot...white collar folks are looking at blue collar jobs....i would know i live it every day....i work hard for my money and every little break helps. Call him a clown but the guy makes sense why shouldn't we have breaks for things we spend on, our hard earned money??

Welcome to A2k.

That pleasentry out of the way. Piss Off.

People w/o kids should not have to pay for people who choose to.
People w/o mortgages should not have to pay for people choose to have mortgages.
People w/o dogs should not have to pay for people with dogs.

Not having kids, I mostly agree with you; but our society might have an interest in growing in numbers over time, which means we need more kids...

Cycloptichorn

Our growth is already unsustainable. Maybe we should pay people not to have children. That way only those who are the most dedicated to being parents would make the choice. I think taxes should be an investment in our society, and somehow giving individual people rebates for breeding doesn't work for me. They probably just spend it on X-boxes, baton twirling lessons and maybe puppies. I would rather the gov't keep the money and invest it in public education and children's healthcare issues. I think the pet tax proposal was euthanized awhile ago.

It is? I haven't seen any evidence of unsustainable population growth in America. Huge amounts of our country remain basically empty; we have tremendous amounts of land waiting to be utilized more fully.



Declining population is generally not considered to a be a positive thing in society.

Cycloptichorn

Why thanks for the hearty welcome

And same to you

Cry me a river richie rich?
A tax system for equal distribution of wealth has been in place for a reason.
When the government collects taxes, its up to THEM not YOU what to do with
if the rich get richer and the poor get poorer a time will come when the poor wont give a piss and take matters into their own hands....history teaches us this..french revolution anyone?

Lol i pray that day never comes....cause you and your Porsches and lambos wont have a place when when that day comes so i pray it never does.

Richie rich ? I only wish. A Porsche is a dream car; not a daily driver for me. My net worth is below $0 (well below.... )right now BWC.

I'm not poor; but I'm all about revolutions. I'll join.

You have an odd view of our tax system. It's never been about equal distribution of wealth. Oh, and the government work for ME, and for YOU. It is up to ME what they do with my money; and I will make sure they know about it.

Do you think it's right that someone like me, making $70k / year, w/o kids, has to send people with kids money? Like I can afford it? Like our country can afford it? Have you seen our deficits?

That's called the last 20 years here in America. Our system greatly favors the rich. Personally, I would like to see that change.

(As a regular poster here, I can tell you Maporsche's only porsche is that picture, but his tax philosophy tends to be conservative)

So what you are saying is that only a certain class of people should be buying xboxes or puppies for their children? I am sorry but that line of thinking is a little selfish dont you think? Give low income families a tax break gives them some hope to have someting to look forward too. Sure you might say that buying an xbox isnt the right thing to do but a little treat like that is probably worth more in terms of morale than say a $200 subsidy on books or supplies.

let me ask you this why do you work? pay mortgages, have children and families? why do we get out of bed everyday and pull through in our dead end jobs? What is the reason?

Money? Fame? Society?Because everyone else does it?

No, its because we too are human beings just like you, we love, we dream, we care, we have needs, and if once in a while if we buy an item that brings joy to our mundane lives by buying an xbox or getting baton lesson please forgive us for being......well...em human.

I am not being disrespectful to any off you well except maybe the porsche dude up there (instead of being open to discussion hed rather have me pissoff) but all i am doing is sheading light on the "other" side of life. I dont know how successful or unfortunate any of you are, but i do know this...there are people more unfortunate than you and me....and i try to help anyone that i can...when i made the money i did, i dont make the money and i still do but thats not the point.....the point is ....

you will never realize the value of what you have, untill you have lost it
you will never know what hunger is, untill you have felt it
you will never know the meaning of sharing, until someone shares with you
and you will forever look at life differently once you have been on the other side.

i was like you, had it all .....and then life changed....i dont believe in welfare or handouts i am an honest man living an honest life in a dishonest world and when i had to hurt my pride and depend on welfare even for a short while it was the most painful thing to bear...but boy was i happy that it was there for me when i neeeded it....i contributed my hard earned money to the government and bitched and moaned about how its unfair that others get to use it.....and then when i lost my job, dream of a house, car, bike, and other things....that welfare that i had contributed to was my only comfort for a short while.....

People who dont have kids, should care about people who do
people who dont have dogs, should care about people who do
people should care.....you never know when you might need someone to care about you !

Not sure about that, at least the generalization.

I think poor people should pay taxes. A small amount, sure, but taxes nontheless. This gives them a interest in how much money the government spends. I don't think 5% is unreasonable.

No one should get more back in income taxes than they put in, EVER.

No one should get payroll taxes back. SS and Medicare are some people's only retirement plan; they should have to pay for it.

I don't think people should get tax breaks for things they like to by (houses) or having children. I may be able to go along with some of these things when we have surplusses, but NEVER when we have the kind of deficits we have now.



On the 'other' side.


I think the rich should pay more at the higher income brackets. I don't think a 60% tax on incomes over 2 million is excessive.

After all, most of our defense spending and the financial bailout spending has been mainly to keep the investment class happy and keep their investments safe; they should pay a significantly higher amount of taxes for that financial security.

Lol then you an i have some thing in common....i was saving for a 2003 boxster but alas life has a weird way of working oout....well maybe someday

yea i do have a weird way of lookin at our system....i think its flawed, i think its a necessary evil, i think it works when it needs to sometimes, and i think we can really change it....

Maybe it was your doppelganger who wrote your first post here...let me cut to the bits that show your disrespectfulness. If you're going to try to open up a conversation with me, someone, like you said, you don't know; maybe a little respect is in order. If you care....[and your screen name says you do].

i agree ...i think the whole bail out bs was just that bs, i think the war was a wasted of time, money and energy, and i agree the rich should pay higher taxes at that income bracket....what i would like to see is this....give the people the credit they deserve....tax them upfront and withhold the money and give em back the money they deserve...sure put in for social security and what not