A post by Pat
This is embarrassing.
The Happy Act, “Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years” H.R. 3501, proposes a $3,500 deduction for pets. I heard about this on one of the business shows this morning and thought, wow, wait until the Tammy peeps hear about this. I ran to the computer to find out what lunatic proposed this idea. To my absolute shock it is my Congressman, Thaddeus McCotter. I considered him one of the good guys. I had to cut him some slack on some things like the auto bailout because his district is in the faintly beating heart of the auto industry.
I know the man has a wry sense of humor so I thought maybe he’s being facetious and poking fun at the absurdities in Washington. Then I found this interview.
I’m an animal lover and pet owner. My heart aches when I hear the stories about abandoned pets found locked in foreclosed homes. The plight of homeless animals is profoundly sad in the best of times. There are reasonable ways for the government to help but the idea that the government has to “help” in all things great and small is not so bright and beautiful. How about cutting our taxes overall so we can be free to chose our own options for spending? We could adopt pets or give donations to shelters or make thousands of other decisions about what matters and how we live our lives.
This proposal is more agreeable than some of the abominations coming out of Congress. That doesn’t make it supportable. It isn’t up to Congress to pick and choose what is praiseworthy in life and amend the tax code accordingly. Perhaps the grand poobahs of D.C. will eventually decide the best course is to suck up all the money and give us an allowance for specific approved expenditures if we behave ourselves. It’s getting awfully close to that.
My idea of a Happy Act is to fire Congress and turn the place into a kennel. It will be easier to clean up that crap than the kind produced there now.
(I just sent a donation to a local shelter. Monday morning I’ll be calling Rep. McCotter’s office.)
Yeah, this just scares me a little bit…not at the absurdity, but how many times have we heard of people on welfare having more kids so they can claim more assistance from the government? Is that $3500 PER pet? I can see it now; there are enough people out there who abuse pets, this is just an excuse to adopt more pets to claim a tax rebate. This may be well-intentioned, but this will only hurt those it was meant to help, and they can’t stick up for themselves….of course, animals will soon be able to have a lawyer and their day in court…
Wow! I’m rushing out to Wal Mart to pick up a few more deductio… errrr, Beta fish! 9 more should put us in good stead. Are they going to discriminate based on pet allergies? We can’t have a furry critter in our house. That would make one of us very ill. DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION!!
You are right Pat, this is embarrassing. Watching the interview, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! The bill is named Happy for “uncle” Keith of the Rolling Stones because the song Happy was on McCotter’s iPod!?!?! Give me a break! I couldn’t listen to the rest…I just couldn’t. He IS serious, isn’t he?!?
IS this a racist post? Can’t you see me for the content of my canine character and not the color of my fur? Or the fact that I have fur?
JUST PULLING YOUR PAW PAT!
I give this post two paws up.
Oh no not Thaddeus!!! My antenna went up on him when I heard him on Dennis Miller’s show praising Nancy Pelosi’s work on human rights concerning China, yikes. I was so shocked then and now this. I really liked him until now,…. hmmmm….what’s going on there? Tammy you were great last night with Juan and the Dr. I think Rush is brilliant for playing this hand by exposing more and more people. I think he knew exactly what he was getting into with these people and they fell for it. They thought they were going to suck him in and take him down, but Rush set them up to be exposed. Brilliant! Keep up the great work Tammy and thank you for all you do. Oh, Doug Hoffman needs money and is doing pretty well against the GOP pick. redstate.com and hotair.com also michellemalkin.com has more info.
The deduction for a child is not a $1,000. In 2008 it was $3,500 plus, depending on your income level, you could also receive a credit. That said, yes it is ridiculous.
Thanks sperry. Kind of a moot point since this bill is going nowhere anyway. Tammy speculated it might be McCotter’s way of trying to siphon some money back to the people. It’s still pathetic. It’s a lib tactic to get money by playing on emotions. If it’s an elaborate joke, Thad has gone to far.
Thanks Pat_S. Always admire your comment. Wish I could write as well.
Thaddeus McCotter is a really good “cat.” As a multiple pet owner, I am totally down for this deduction. Maybe knock a few shekels off the 35% I pay to the goddamned useless government now.
Pat will you kindly keep us in the know on this bill?
Orchid – great point! I’ve adopted German Shepherds for years from abuse and/or high kill shelters. I currently have 3 dogs – but I never imagined adopting them for a tax write off for crying out loud.
My Congressman is Rosecoe Bartlett (MD)…the libs I know, call him the Congressman of NO cuz he always votes no; particularly on spending bills, so I call him the Congressman of not Statism.
Will do.
Oh dang it!! I have two pugs and they had six puppies and I got rid of them before I heard about this.
Since the Great Racoon Controversy of last week, it’s all so confusing! So, maybe the Happy Act is really code for an anti-gay slur (happy=gay). I’m just sayin’ ….
so many pets were probably registered to vote by Acorn, this makes perfect sense. Obambi’s gonna pay kitty’s cat litter and nip bill…woooooooooo! and she wants a Littermaid too….. pay off the old people AND the pets.
but after thinking about this for 2 seconds my feeling is- i should get some gravy too-me me me!( i have several cats, all rescues, and 2-gasp-‘ black moor’ goldfish.) why is all the free money for only terrorists to live in bermuda, welfare children in ny to get ‘ books’, near half the population not to pay any taxes at all and executives of failed banks to get million dollar bonuses? as a single person with no children in the middle class i get screwed royal on taxes. my cats are less of a drain on public services than children in general and all those adults on assistance. they’re fixed so they’re not out having children out of wedlock destined for the welfare rolls. they don’t smoke, drink, eat trans fats, or spread the stds but none of their health care is subsidized by the state. they don’t drive cars and the only waste they produce is technically ‘ green’. they don’t go to school, don’t beat other kittens with baseball bats and they understand english, having been born here.( understand- not necessarily listen). why shouldn’t they be left out of the free stuff from Dear Leader?
If they really wanted to help people, they could make all medical expenses part of micellaneous deductions, subject to the 2.5% AGI limitation, rather than the 7.5% AGI limitation as it stands now. I’m all for taking care of our pets, but shouldn’t we have an incentive for taking care of our families and ourselves before we create a whole new class of deductions that are not even subject to modest limits? This is really upside-down. Next we’ll be getting a dependent deduction for pets.