Stop tax breaks for shooting animals in fenced enclosures
VICTORY UPDATE: Congress voted to outlaw tax breaks for trophy hunting! No longer will hunters be allowed to shoot wild and rare game in order to get a tax break through the "charitable" donations of their kill. Thanks from Care2 and the Humane Society of the United States for helping to make this wildlife victory possible!
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Did you know trophy hunters can write off their canned hunts and
big game safaris at taxpayers' expense?
As reported in a front-page expose in The Washington Post, wealthy hunters have been killing a few "extra" animals, donating the trophies to pseudo-museums, inflating the value of these trophies and then taking a huge tax deduction for their "charitable" contribution (to "museums" that are sometimes in someone's basement or even abandoned railroad cars).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has tightened up the part of the current tax code that deals with charitable donations to solve this problem. His changes are part of a massive "tax reconciliation" bill, which passed the Senate November 18. The House passed a different version of the tax bill December 8 that did not address the taxidermy tax scam. Urge your U.S. Senators and Representative to make sure the final bill ends this tax scam immediately!
Every year, tens of thousands of wild animals are killed solely for their trophy value-including rare and endangered animals around the world. I am opposed to this pointless killing and disturbed that some trophy hunters have found a way to finance their expeditions by duping the IRS and American taxpayers. Please do all that you can to stop this abuse of taxpayer funds.
