Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislation)

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Donna & Buddha

Donna & Buddha

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Good morning!

I've just returned from my vet's office where I found a Legislative Alert flyer from the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association. Apparently there is legislation proposed in House Bill 385, 386, 387 and 388 that would result in "veterinarian expenses for pets" to be taxed. More information is available on the GVMA website, http://www.gvma.net/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

The flyer at my vet's office is here: http://www.gvma.net/files/public/GVMA_Legislative_Alert_Pet_Tax_Public2.pdf

Georgia pet owners contact your representatives and let them know how you feel about this. I would so love to see the local, state, federal governments balance their budgets, cut spending, and yes, raise taxes for certain groups. But my vet bills are high enough!
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

they tried this here in California a year or two ago only they tried to tax 5 services...vet, auto, appliance repair, etc......fortunately it got shut down. hope Georgia goes the same way.
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

As Cindy mentioned, I too remember when they tried to do this in Taxifornia (aka, California) and it got shot down. I can't imagine paying more for vet bills. Keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't happen in Georgia or any other state.
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

I hope this Bill gets killed. Here in Canada we have the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is 5%. That is automatically added on to our vet bills for the federal government to enjoy. Alberta doesn't have a sales tax but I'm not sure if the other provinces that do have a sales tax added on to their vet services as well. To me it seems to be a very unfair tax.
 
Proposed Georgia Taxes--A Broader Look

I have a state and local government background. I get frustrated when special interest groups like the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association lobby piecemeal against changes in government policies, especially revenue and spending policies.

Georgia residents may want to look at the entirety of the revenue package the state legislature is considering. On just a quick scan through, there are some provisions I would be far more concerned about than a tax on veterinary services. I don't know how to evaluate together the four Georgia House Bills that are currently under consideration, but from House Bill 385, the law would repeal the sales-tax exemptions on:

Line 1323--Public transportation effective July 1, 2011.
Lines 1397 through 1403--Sales of tangible property and services to certain institutions of higher education effective July 1, 2013.
Line 1419--Public school lunches effective July 1, 2013.
Line 1470--Water delivered to customers through water mains, lines, or pipes effective July 1, 2011.
Lines 1482 through 1487--Certain products used in farming or animal husbandry effective January 1, 2012.
Lines 1862 through 1877--Food and food ingredients effective July 1. 2011.

The items I have picked out would greatly concern me if I lived in Georgia because I although I am a fiscal conservative, I am socially liberal, and those are taxes that would be regressive against low-income people.

Part of this comprehensive revamping of the Georgia revenue structure may be coming from a fast-moving train that no one may be able to slow down. For more than a dozen years, a cooperative of state governments have been trying to create simple and uniform rules for the taxation of goods and services among state and local governments so that Internet sales could be taxed regardless of the location of the relative vendor and consumer. This is called the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement Project. Georgia recently became an associate member of the project.

I understand how a Georgia resident with an interest in the well-being of animals would be upset by the taxation of veterinary services given that item in isolation. But Georgia residents may want to start looking at the other potential changes in state revenue law that could far more impact on them, especially given the current economic conditions.

BTW, my state does not have a sales tax on veterinary services. However, there is a state fee tacked onto private veterinary spays and neuters of animals that supports the state program for low-cost spaying/neutering of animals owned by low-income and disabled residents. I support that "targeted" tax/fee.

Notice to administrator/moderators: I know the FDMB terms of use prohibits discussions of politics unrelated to feline health care due to the potential for too much heat, no enlightenment, and creation of bad feelings. I don't know whether I have crossed the line. If I have, I apologize and ask that this post be removed.

Politics-1.jpg
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

Thank you, Venita! I should be more versed on these topics than I am. I'm not sure why there are 4 different bills, and I just quickly scanned the text of just one of them. The lines that jumped out at me were for automotive services and beauty salon services, but there is an extensive list of proposed changes, of which the proposed tax on veterinarian expenses is but one.

Finances in general are a mess, everywhere and at every level. I understand that each proposed cut is going to affect someone, somewhere. It is going to be unavoidable and necessary. I have heard the idea thrown around that groceries should be taxed. Yikes! Some counties in Georgia have gone to a 4 day a week school week. Kids go to school Monday through Thursday. And it is likely that our state lottery funded pre-K program will be cut to 1/2 day next year.

Give me another forum and I will rant about those topics. For the here and now, I'm alerting Georgia pet owners to proposed changes.

For those who want to know more, the text of the bills are here:
385 http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20112012/111292.pdf
386 http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en- ... tion=33188
387 http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en- ... tion=33189
388 http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en- ... tion=33190

make up your own minds.

Venita, I welcome your comments. Your concerns are valid. Your ideas are constructive. But darn it all, I don't want to pay more at the vets! And I should say that here in my part of rural central Georgia our vet rates are extremely affordable compared to price quotes I've seen on FDMB. So, I'll suck it up if I have to, but I hope that I don't.
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

Wow. I am never here anymore and I popped on for a totally unrelated reason and saw this. Thank you for posting, I will share with Georgia contacts.

I agree Venita that things like this should be considered in totality. One thing, though, that concerns me is how hard the economic downturn has hit low and moderate income pet owners. This certainly won't help.

I'd hope that pet owners would call to the attention of the legislature the numbers of pets that have been given up for economic reasons in the past few years, a significant percentage of which have likely ended up dead.

I'd appeal to them not to exacerbate that problem.
 
Venita...

I don't care what party that intelligent-lookin cat belongs to -- he gets my vote!

I love his definition of politics, especially the blood-sucking parasites reference!

Lisa and Spooky (GA)
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

Barb and Tori said:
I hope this Bill gets killed. Here in Canada we have the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is 5%. That is automatically added on to our vet bills for the federal government to enjoy. Alberta doesn't have a sales tax but I'm not sure if the other provinces that do have a sales tax added on to their vet services as well. To me it seems to be a very unfair tax.
Click to expand...

In Ontario we pay 13% Harmonized Sales Tax on all vet services and products.
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

fwiw, they wouldn't need to tax us all more if they'd learn how to live within their means
 
Re: Tax on Veterinary expenses!?! (proposed Georgia legislat

Cindy + Mousie said:
fwiw, they wouldn't need to tax us all more if they'd learn how to live within their means
Click to expand...

I think that would apply to all levels of Government, US or Canada.
 
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