Actually, the horse was a credit , not a deduction.
Rafalca, the Romney's Olympics-bound dressage horse, nets the family a $77,000 tax credit, $2,000 of which, according to Current's calculations, is for what they spent on health care for the horse. The average American family only spends $1,557 a year on health care. You remember Rafalca, right? Ann Romney's special horse who competes in a strange Olympic sport called dressage that colleague Elspeth Reeve helpfully explained with GIFs.
Current made an infrographic breaking down where exactly the $77,000 tax credit the Romneys registered for the horse on their 2010 returns breaks down when put up against the average American family. The tax credit for a child is only $1,000 so Rafalca is already 77 times more valuable than your little preciouses. And yes, the horse has a fantastic health care plan.
Unsurprisingly, Rafalca outpaces the average family in shelter and transportation. A horse that's basically a fashion model with rhythm couldn't live in squalor or travel lightly. Rafalca pays about $2,400 a month for rent, versus the American family's $1,362. Rafalca also spends about ten times as much on clothing in the space of a year than the average family. It's hard out there for a dressage horse.
The only category the American family outspends Rafalca on: food. Does this mean we need to retire the phrase " eat like a horse" and replace it with "eat like a family"?
theatlanticwire.com |
