Dear Editor,
Re: B.C. non-profit CEO urges tax deductions for vet bills
This article proposes that veterinary care for pets should be tax deductible.
Further, it is suggested that employers and group insurance companies support pets through benefits packages and other policies. This care could include MRIs, ultrasounds, radiology, cancer treatment and advanced surgeries.
First, I like pets. I’ve had pets in the past and may choose to get a pet in the future, but the one thing that I have always accepted is that the cost of keeping and maintaining a pet is my responsibility – not someone else’s.
If I cannot accept the cost or potential cost then I need to pass on owning a pet.
The first major problem with the article is that veterinary care should be tax deductible. This is not a freebie. With a tax deduction, it becomes the taxpayer who is supporting the cost of pet care, not just the owner.
For every dollar of tax revenue the government gives away in a “tax deduction,” that dollar either has to be 1) diverted from some other use; 2) recovered from increased taxes somewhere else; or 3) forego some other service that tax dollar would have been used for.
In all three cases, that dollar comes from or will come from taxpayers.
The second and more odious problem is the idea that we should divert funds from human health care to pet health care.
There are thousands of our neighbours that need medical services that are either unavailable or in short supply but instead, the CEO of RAPS wants to divert taxpayer funds to pet health care.
So, no, this is a non-starter.
Craig Franzen
Richmond
Got an opinion on this story or any others in Richmond? Send us a letter or email your thoughts or story tips to [email protected].
