How a Horse Becomes a “Small Business”

Not everyone knows that the food, training and stabling of Mitt and Ann Romney’s dressage horse, the one that competed in the Olympics, is also considered a “small business” by the Romneys, allowing them to claim a $77,000 deduction for “business losses” on their income taxes. How can such a travesty happen? Well, Romney created a “business” called Rob Rom Enterprises that “owns” the 15-year-old mare, Rafalca. Romney claims Refalca is a “business” because she could produce foals worth money, thus becoming a “product.” (At that age, the old gal hasn’t got many productive years left to pop out foals, though.)

As President Obama pointed out in the debate Wednesday night, “Under Gov. Romney’s [tax plan] definition, Donald Trump is a small business. I know Donald Trump doesn’t like to think of himself as small anything.”

Trump qualifies as a “small business” under Romney’s tax program because he earns speaking fees and book royalties. Romney and the Republican Party propose that anyone with any business income listed on their tax returns should be classified as a “small business,” even if they earn tens of millions in other income every year like Trump and Romney, millions taxed under most favorable tax rates. Creating yet another loophole would be nothing but blatant welfare for the very wealthy.

I guess under that absurd reasoning the wealthy could create a small business to own their yachts, their private jets, their island getaways, anything that they could say had income potential. The yacht could be called a “fishing charter boat.” The jet could be “owned” by whatever business they are associated with. That island getaway could conceivably earn potential “income” by making it a rental property part of the year. (The 99% “riff-raff” could be kept away from these toys for the rich by giving the phony companies “owning” the items an advertising budget of $0.

Romney has told the world through the magic of hidden video that he doesn’t worry about 47% of Americans. I worry about the “welfare queens” in the 1%, people who insist that their hobbies like dressage horses should be paid for by the taxpayers, by you and me. Since Romney refuses to tell us exactly what deductions he is going to eliminate in the tax plan, will his horse scam be one of them? Don’t count on it.