The only thing similar to the endless costs of having kids, is having NO children, but dealing with the endless costs of having five dogs, five cats, or any number of horses.
A lawyer is in the news because she’s suing the IRS, demanding that people’s PETS count as legal dependents, like human family members, for tax relief. It may sound silly at first. But IS it that crazy?
In a survey, 97% of American pet owners say they consider their pets to be “part of their family.” Those pets are “dependent” on humans for food, shelter, medical care, training, transportation, and daily living.
She says her eight-year-old golden retriever has no independent income, resides exclusively with her, and has annual expenses exceeding $5,000. That satisfies the IRS intent of “dependency”, except being human.
Currently, pets are considered “property” by the IRS, and are not eligible for human-dependent tax benefits.
Even though a lot of people would probably WANT this to be considered, it’s VERY unlikely that anything comes of it. In fact, it’s not even clear that there’s legal “standing” for any court to accept this case.
For that, you need to be able to prove that you’ve been wronged or suffered damages, and you aren’t allowed to challenge the tax code in court.
The lawyer is serious about this, and she claims she HAS been damaged, because the tax rules are not being applied fairly, and it’s discrimination to treat taxpayers differently, based only on whether their dependents are human.
Technically, the case hasn’t been dismissed yet, so it’s still alive for now.
(Forbes)
