Anne Romney, tax cheat, mooch millionaire. She Bilked It.

[Warren Stupidity]

Romney’s wife, Ann, who calls horses her “passion in life,” has an investment in them, including Rafalca, valued at as much as $500,000. The couple’s tax returns classify Ann Romney’s pastime as a business that lost $77,731 in 2010, rather than a hobby, and as a passive investment instead of one they actively manage. Each of those decisions has tax consequences.

The Romneys’ tax deductions for their investment in Rafalca emphasize the distinction in the tax code between hobby horses and the horse business. Hobby expenses are harder to deduct than business expenses. It’s a difference the Internal Revenue Service tries to enforce and one that some horse owners try to cross when they see their care-and-feeding bills, said Dessa Bergquist, an accountant at Eide Bailly LLP in Golden, Colorado.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-27/romneys-have-tax-deduction-with-olympic-hopes-on-rafalca

If you or I keep a horse and never make a dime doing so, it is a hobby and we pay every cent of the costs with taxed dollars.

Anne Romney, tax cheat, mooch millionaire, she gets a subsidy from you and me. She Bilked It.

[sad sally]

1. She claims the horse provides "therapy" - is this one of those loopholes Rmoney/Ryan want to close?

Doubt it, at least for some people.

[JBoy]

2. If her "business" horse provides therapy,

then Ann the horse owner should be charging Ann the therapy recipient for services rendered.

Ann the therapy recipient would be paying with after tax dollars (perhaps with some deductions), but Ann the horse owner would have business income.

Somehow I doubt that's happening...

[riderinthestorm]

3. She does have a legitimate horse sales and training business with her partners (not Mitt)

and the $77k deduction was disallowed by the IRS. I'm absolutely sure she's a passive investor - she doesn't know enough to be the lead in a business operating at the international level (I'm sure her trainer Jan Ebeling calls the shots, Ann's just the bank).

I'm in the horse biz and like Ann, I take whatever deductions I can to keep my business going. Unless you are saying anyone involved in owning and operating animal businesses shouldn't be entitled to legitimate business deductions....

Bottom line, there are a lot of things that the Rmoneys are scamming but the horse thing doesn't appear to be one of them.

[madrchsod]

5. you going to bid on the horses here in dixon?

http://www.ritacrundwell.com/

these are some of the most beautiful horses i have ever seen.

my family and hers goes back a long way.....

[riderinthestorm]

6. No, they're not fast enough for us (eventing) nor do they have the movement (dressage)

QH can make it in our sports but only at the lowest levels. They are so different than what we need we haven't actually bought or owned a QH for many decades.

They are beautiful though. They have to be sold in order to keep their value. My mom is all aghast that they're selling her herd before she's even had a trial. I was like, "Mom! Whose going to pay for their care for many months (years?) while this trial goes on? They'll lose their value and whatever abilities they may have". Honestly, I'm worried about the many months they've languished so far!

So you actually know her and her family?! That's wild! Did you all suspect anything was amiss with her and her massive accumulation of horses?

[jberryhill]

4. I'd like to deduct my hobby horse

Is that a sequel to the Monty Python cat license sketch or what?