Oct 20, 2009 7:14 pm US/Eastern
Cat's Meow? Bill Offers Tax Breaks For Pet Owners
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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We all know how expensive it can be getting medical care for your family, but your pets can be quite costly as well. Now the federal government may be throwing pet owners a bone. (File)
Dave Game/CBS
We all know how expensive it can be getting medical care for your family, but your pets can be quite costly as well. Now the federal government may be throwing pet owners a bone.
How about a four-legged tax break for a four-legged friend?
If you're like most pet owners, you treat your furry friend as well as – if not better than – you treat yourself. Dog owner Nicole Cramer is a perfect example.
"She basically gets to choose her own toys, so we go and I give her an array and whatever she kind of takes to, she gets. That's how she chose her bed, that's how she chooses her clothing," Cramer says of her beloved best friend.
All that plus the cost of veterinary visits can add up each year. The American Pet Products Association forecasts that total pet spending in 2009 will reach more than $45 billion, up from about $43 billion in 2008. Now, to help ease the burden of caring for Fido or Fifi, new legislation has been introduced that will provide pet owners up to a $3,500 deduction for pet care expenses each year.
"HR-3501 allows pet parents to truly claim those animals as part of the family," says Jo Sullivan, Senior Vice President for Development and Communications for the ASPCA.
The bill, nicknamed "HAPPY," for Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years, is gaining momentum with animal advocacy groups like the ASPCA, who say they're seeing an increase in the number of animals being abandoned or returned to shelters due to the economy.
"As people are losing their homes or their jobs they are choosing to give up their pets or not perform medical functions on their pets they really need, so we're really hoping this tax relief would allow them to take much better care of their pets," says Sullivan.
Pet owners CBS 2 spoke to loved the idea.
"I think it's a great idea," said Brooklyn resident Courtney Bower. "I'm going to get another one that's younger now."
But not everyone is in favor. Critics charge every time you give one group of people a deduction or credit, you require that some one else give one up. And with so many recent cuts in areas like healthcare and education, these tax dollars are needed elsewhere.
"I guess that deduction could be used for more things that were more of a need than just for people's pets," said West Village resident Sarah Trutter.
The bill was introduced this summer and awaits hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee.
For more information on the bill,
click here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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