By Keith C. Milne
Decades ago, when I regularly made less than I needed to for all of my labor, I used to love it at the end of the year when I filed my super simple 1040EZ form, because I was super poor and I barely made ends meet every month, but tax filing time meant that I would now be getting a little unexpected money soon.
I could never save a dime living in that expensive, greed filled great State of California, seriously! I worked a full time job during the day at a local printing company, and by night did a side gig at a busy corner gas station in southern California. Every time I got a little bump or rise in wages, my rent would go up. I hated it with a passion.
Many years later, now moved out of that money sink-hole California, I was finally able to make just as much if not more money for the same jobs on the East Coast (the “Right Coast”) and get enough together to purchase my first home. My tax situation started getting just a little more complicated, but still remained very doable, despite the fact that, back then, with no internet, it was an annual trip to the post office to grab every publication off the rack in the lobby that I thought even slightly pertained to my situation, because I didn’t want to have to fight all of that traffic, parking, and friction because I forgot a needed publication. Many years, this resulted in quite a jacked up pile in the recycling bin.
Now I could happily write off the interest on my mortgage, and (for awhile back then) credit card interest, and loan interest. All interest. Not bad, I was happy about those rules and it did help me for quite awhile at least a little. As time went by, it became questionable as to whether or not I would ever have my own children. Although I certainly liked the idea of being a father, I never felt ready, at least until well past the traditional age that most men will think of taking that leap.
I felt as free as a bird, and many times felt sorry for quite a few of my friends who had married relatively early, and were now making their families. Two, three, sometimes, even four or more children later, they would stop having children, with either mom or dad doing the deed surgically to prevent any further chance of getting pregnant while together.
As I continued through life, making more money over time as my skill sets increased, I was able to start investing and seriously saving. My taxes grew even more complex, but now there was software to help you with them. Being a post-early adopter, I tried some of the earliest versions of Turbo Tax and HR Block’s Tax Cut software with remarkable success. In fact so successful, I never did my taxee without using software ever again. That’s when I began to notice all of the credits that were available for those who qualified for them. The tax software would always steer me back to the childcare tax credit, assuming that, because of my age back then, that I must have children and likely just overlooked a really obvious and lucrative credit.
The tax code incentivizes having more kids! The more children a family brings into this world, the more we encourage it with tax breaks. That aside, although that encouragement might be very functional and stimulating economically AT A GLANCE, the reality is closer to by incentivizing population growth through tax breaks, in the long haul the added stress on the planets resources more than negates any benefit economically by ensuring a future workforce through this means. It is even more alarming to me that the childcare tax credit exists still, when those future workers may or may not even have a job later in life.
I remember going to work in late February-early March and hearing my co-workers share their stories, always told with ear-to-ear smiling, about how much of a return they were getting that year and what they were going to do with it. At times, I would be SHOCKED at how much some of them were getting back from their tax filings, sometimes as much as $2k-$3K! What was even stranger to me at the time was that I had begun actively reading books on wealth building and more than once I read that it was better to adjust your Federal withholding so that you would come out as close as possible to breaking even with the government when you filed your taxes. I tried adjusting my withholding and it allowed me to see a small, but significant increase in my net pay each bi-weekly check. I remember feeling pretty good about that.
As the years went by, I began to feel a little pang of anger every year when I filed my taxes about the fact that I had cared for a total of 7 dogs in my life and never got a single tax credit of any kind. Think about that for a minute. I know some of you are thinking, “what? tax credit for pets?! Get reaI!” Really? Why? (Remember, most of the top five of the wealthiest in the world pay ZERO taxes, is that not even more ridiculous?), but, yeah, I had kids, they just weren’t human!
I had fur babies who needed constant care and love and attention and medical care for decades. Everything I had done contributed to society in very positive ways, yet there was zero recognition for doing so via tax credits. Meanwhile, the childcare tax credit gives people huge tax returns every year to have humans (which stress the planet, further deplete its resources, and commit untold tons of additional greenhouse gases into our atmosphere every year).
Yes, people have kids and that has to happen for sure, I’m not anti-family or anti-anything here, I am merely FOR adding a needed recognition and FAIR and EQUAL tax treatment for millions out there in the world who walk their rescues come hell or high water in snow and sleet, rain, mud, heat and humidity, picking up their poop without a word, wiping their asses when necessary, and quietly continuing on day in and day out, caring for them and loving them, and watching them get healthy and heal from their wounds, both physical and spiritual all from quiet, consistent, tender-loving care and kindness, one day at a time because the animals deserve it just as much as we do.
I’m talking about dogs here. Children that never grow up! They will die without your constant care. Adopted rescues can be VERY expensive to adopt, own, and often come with plenty of past trauma and all kinds of abuse or trauma complete with the PTSD like behaviors at times around certain people, certain gendered people, or other dogs or animals. Many of these dogs also require special diets due to their genetics, breed conventions, or injuries. I myself, have twice found medical issues that either went unsaid or undetected until I adopted the pet, and had to pay for expensive double hernia operations right after adoption! That added a cool $1200 to the tab of owning my new companion.
Someone has to care for these animals, and millions of good people with huge hearts who know the special love and spiritual goodness that can flow back and forth as a positive symbiosis between owner and pet as time goes on should be given a tax break for doing such good, kind, loving work, that results in a multitude of benefits.
Most folks don’t know that, at least here in Western Massachusetts, not just anyone can own a dog. You have to live here to even be considered to own a shelter dog or a rescued dog from a rescue organization, and everyone has to qualify to be a pet owner. You have to have three references that can be contacted, preferably people who know you and how you are with animals. The adopting person or family is also required to prove veterinary follow-up care, puppy and/or doggie training classes, and sometimes even a follow up visit by the shelter to the owners home to verify proper care, it just depends on the particular shelter and/or rescue organization. Can the same be said even slightly about having kids?
No one in the United States of America is required to do anything special or required to have any sort of training whatsoever in order to bring another human being into this world, whether they are or are not ready for it! Anyone can have intercourse and create a child if they are anatomically ready to! How many will step up, take both care and training classes, and then spend potentially the next 8 to 20 years caring for a dependent who needs full time care and a watchful eye 24/7? Not many! Not many are qualified or should have kids! For many families, the money benefit from the tax credit doesn’t get used for childcare at all. If the Federal government is going to continue to give huge tax credits to increase the world population, then those benefiting from the credit should have to at least study the subject and pass an exam in order to qualify for it.
By rescuing and adopting pets of all kinds, but particularly dogs and cats, society is safer, the cost of running kill shelters works its way to zero over time, because they are no longer needed. Here in Massachusetts, the dogs are adopted almost as fast as they arrive. The shelters and organizations here take mass rescues from all over the deep south, especially after a hurricane event that often displaces hundreds, or even thousands of animals all at once over several states impacted by some of these destructive storms, and the taxpayers of any given community win by not having another cost to bear the burden of.
Adoption of dogs and cats should have a tax credit on form 1040, right above or below the childcare tax credit. The government should incentivize things that result in less burden on the environment and on taxpayers, and this would go a long way towards achieving that goal. Further, adding this credit would finally recognize those who do this important work and the benefit they provide to society as a whole, while helping to reduce the overall stress and burden on the environment because pro-shelter/rescue adoption, is pro-animal population control, and reduces the need for as much euthanizing or as many needed adoptions.
Providing tax incentives to provide for a future workforce, without quantifying the total burden on the environment and on the community and country is misguided.
Providing a “Pet-Care Tax Credit” doesn’t take anything away from the parents of human children or diminish any benefit to those who have human babies, but is a win-win all the way around, by adding a tax credit for the the adoption of fur babies. It adds a nice incentive to reduce the burden on individual States and communities by increasing the adoption rate, while simultaneously negating a tax burden of the need to expand or build shelters, and it would offset, at least a little bit, some of the costs of taking on the enormous responsibility of adopting a pet, especially a special needs pet, which describes a lot of the rescues out there.
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
–Josh Billings
Here is a short list of a few of the wonderful adoption agencies and some of my local shelters:
Here is me with my current rescue “Woody.” I adopted him from a really amazing, shoe-string group of volunteers who run the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Animal Shelter in Turners Falls, MA right behind Judd wire up on the hill a 1/4 mile from the industrial park and little airport.
“Cookie” is a little animated, funny, playful, energetic little ball of love, that is a dream to walk and was rescued August 2020 when my in-laws passed away within two weeks of one another. I never
dreamed I would ever have a little Chihuahua, but she is one of the most enjoyable to own pets I’ve ever had! A dream pet to own, and she’ll keep your lap nice and warm in the winter.
Other AMAZING organizations in the area include the following:
https://www.dakinhumane.org/adopt-a-pet.html
http://muttrescueofmassachusetts.org/