McConnell’s Farm Bill Priority: Tax Breaks For Thoroughbred Race Horse Owners
McConnell’s Farm Bill Priority: Tax Breaks For Thoroughbred Race Horse Owners
This week, Congress is expected to take up a $300 billion farm bill, which President Bush has vowed to veto. The AP reports that the bill “contains something for everyone” — including the following important project tucked within the massive bill:
A tax break for horse owners was included by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Politico’s Crypt explains:
The measure would essentially allow race horse owners — who pay millions for Triple Crown contenders — to write down their investment over four years. … Senate aides say it will cost between $60 million and $70 million.
McConnell’s measure is a shameless ploy for votes in Kentucky. His spokesman claimed, “it’s the largest agricultural product in Kentucky.” But the tax break would most likely apply only to the very wealthy; after all, the average cost of training and racing one racehorse is $30,000 per year — which does not include purchase price of the horse, anywhere from $12,000 to millions.
The millionaire-only earmark is just McConnell’s latest attempt to have it both ways on pork barrel spending. After securing nearly $195 million in earmarks for FY2008, he voted in favor of a one-year earmark moratorium in March. Yet his “eleventh hour” decision earned him criticism that he was “playing both sides by not lobbying for the measure, which ensured that it failed, while voting for the amendment in order to insulate himself from attacks on the right.”
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Not this dope…..again.
_AIO_
May 14th, 2008 at 12:59 pmproof positive that not all horse’s asses are in stables.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pmHmmm…is this the type of earmark that McCain vows to veto?
Or would he just say that it really isn’t an “earmark” because it’s not allocating money, it’s just letting horse owners cook their books a bit differently?
May 14th, 2008 at 1:05 pmSorry for the OT, but I feel like we could all use some comedy sometimes, and McConnell’s idiocy just proves my point. Random Conservapedia searches may just become my new favorite pastime.
Conservative Supremacist
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A conservative supremacist is one who acts as if he is intellectually superior to others because he believes in the conservative ideology.
Often people are surprised to learn when a conservative supremacist actually has relatively weak intellectual achievements.[Citation Needed]
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May 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pmCategories: Articles with unsourced statements | Politics
“Turtle-Boy”, McConnell is the poster child for the corrupt g.o.p.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pmSo Regular Joe hasn’t right to tax cuts, but millionary horse breeders do? What a f#ucked up concept of fairness.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:13 pmThis bill should surprise no one. After all, we American taxpayers have been footing the bill for one big heaping pile of steaming horse-sh*t ever since GDumbya was (s)elected president.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pmOh….those poor, poor, downtrodden Thoroughbred owners!!!
My heart is just aching for their plight! We must help them!!!
(Whew. That was quite a heavy load of snark!!)
May 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pman ammendment filed later excluded gay horses, horses that had abortions, and horses that bolted when asked to wear an American Flag blanket.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pmA tax break for horse owners was included by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Who looks as though he’s getting slammed in the ass by one in the pic………….
May 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pmtime to elect someone else in kentucky
May 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pmsnark?!!
did someone say snark?
you went & din-it, didn’t cha?
May 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pmHorse racing is animal abuse.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pmGo Ho, Kintuckie has a lot of both. If they vote for that one, they have worse problems yet!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pmSpeaking of needing some comedy, Andy Horowitz gives us a little bit.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:32 pmI wasn’t aware that horses were depreciable assets.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:33 pmOval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:
——————————————————————————–
Horse racing is animal abuse.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Especially when the jockey uses his whip , and these animals are now bred for speed alone , not strength ; that is why that poor filly broke her ankles during the last Kentucky Derby and had to be euthanized……….
May 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pmYou have to give it to the repubs trying to squeeze out all the goodies before they are all kicked out of office.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pmAnd mitch’s spokesperson says, “it’s the largest agricultural product in Kentucky.”
May 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pmDo Kentuckians really consume that much horse….? Or has Mitch just convinced them that they do?
So if I buy a horse for say $20,000 and maintain and train it for a year (at say $30,000) and race it and earn a million dolllars from it, then I can still not only claim the horse isn’t worth more than $50,000 (the total investment) but that despite it earning me a $1million, it is actually a liability, not an asset?
That’s twisted genius!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pmThis sounds to me like it’s dawning on McConnell that the Republican time in the sun is over (I know, he catches on slowly but, then, he IS a Republican) and that he’d better gather all the spoils for his peeps that he can before he and and his party are relegated to political Siberia for forty years.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pmThis is another example of the misuse of our tax system by the greedy pols. Public Administration 101 stresses that the first and primary use of taxes is to insure that policy decisions are enforced not, repeat NOT, to generate income, and certainly not to confer favors on a select few. With the cost of bread and other foodstuffs skyrocketing because of the diversion of grain, etc. for the production of ethanol and animal feed the proper tax break should be given to the purchaser of bread and slapped to the max on such frivolous activities as steroid stuffing steeds.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:41 pmI just want to stick a bike pump in McConnell’s neck and inflate it until it POPS! Who’s with me??
May 14th, 2008 at 1:47 pmwhat’s next? tax breaks for people who lose a bundle at the track? someone slap the minority leader for me.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pmI never thought I’d be in line to defend Mitch McConnell, but this bill isn’t just random pandering to the rich. Kentucky’s two largest cities, Lexington and Louisville, have economies that depend heavily on horse breeding and racing. The tax administration in those two cities encourages the racing industry and is beneficial to their economies as a whole.
McConnell is elected to represent their interests in the US Senate. It’s not pandering to carry forward to a federal level those elements of a state tax program that would be beneficial to the citizens of Kentucky.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pmSCUMBAG!
May 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pmGosh, if Kentucky is so horsey, STL Cynic, then perhaps they should diversify their economy? Puleeze…we know who these tax breaks will go to, and it won’t be the guy cleaning the shit out of the barn.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pmSo McConnell is so concerned about Kentucky’s economy but gives a flying fig about tuition for our military. And the Bill states it will only affect the very wealthy. Trickle down theory at work again huh ?
May 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pmSTL Cynic Says:
“I never thought I’d be in line to defend Mitch McConnell, but this bill isn’t just random pandering to the rich. Kentucky’s two largest cities, Lexington and Louisville, have economies that depend heavily on horse breeding and racing. The tax administration in those two cities encourages the racing industry and is beneficial to their economies as a whole.”
Using this convoluted logic one could argue that giving a tax break to Donald Trump and Paris Hilton would be good for the economy of Reno and Las Vegas. You got your head someplace where the sun doesn’t shine.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pmjay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s Says:
an ammendment filed later excluded gay horses, horses that had abortions, and horses that bolted when asked to wear an American Flag blanket.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pm Recommend (3) | Report Abuse
Don’t forget black horses
May 14th, 2008 at 5:34 pmSTL Cynic Says:
“I never thought I’d be in line to defend Mitch McConnell, but this bill isn’t just random pandering to the rich. Kentucky’s two largest cities, Lexington and Louisville, have economies that depend heavily on horse breeding and racing. The tax administration in those two cities encourages the racing industry and is beneficial to their economies as a whole.”
Hello? XXI Century anyone? Two cities who rely only in breeding horses to survive? Maybe it’s time for both to evolve in a full capitalist world and find some modern bussiness niche, who can survive without socialist handouts. Isn’t this the Republican line of thinking?
/(Not so) snarky
May 14th, 2008 at 5:38 pmGood thing there`s transperancy these days…………..
May 15th, 2008 at 1:22 amMillions for rich horse owners and buttkus for Veterans ???seems like the Republican Party KNOWS who pays the bills . . .
Maybe we need to take a different approach and allow soldiers to be treated as assets like horses, allowing accelerated depreciation in combat – we could package Squads and Battalions like investment units (similar to mortgages) for investors, insured by the Government – losses are tax deductible in the year incurred, equipment and mantence too – and could be sold same as “carbon credits” – creating a vast new market – and tax the profits to provide scholarships (after 20 years service) -THERE – GI Bill fixed!
May 15th, 2008 at 1:52 amThis fool is a blight on the good people of KY!
May 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm