Tax breaks for dogs?

Here’s a little fun one for you. Should pets, in this case dogs, be tax deductible like children? That’s right. From Congress.org a person comes up with this proposal:

My husband & I have no children because we cannot afford to have children living on Long Island. But we do have 2 dogs – 2 very expensive dogs – and they are our kids. If I should mistreat, neglect, abuse or deprive my dog of health care in any way, I can be arrested for animal cruelty. But yet, here we are, spending thousands and thousands of dollars each year giving my dogs the best care in emergency and non emergency situations, what do we receive? My proposal is to be able to declare my dogs as dependents on my taxes at the end of the year.

Just to put this in perspective, page 13:

The number of families with children under 18 is projected to increase minimally from 32.6 million in 1995, peak at 33.2 million in 2001, and then slowly decrease to 32.2 by 2010

Google Answer presents:

New figures just released from APPMA’s 2005-2006 National PetOwners Survey (NPOS) show pet ownership is currently at its highest level, with 63 percent of all U.S. households owning a pet which equates to more than 69 million households. That’s up from 64 million in 2002 and 51 million in 1988 when APPMA’s tracking began.

There seems something odd about these numbers for a nation that professes to be pro children.

If you would like to read more letters for or against you can go here. There are 2500 already with 49% running in favor.
If you would like to send your own letter go here.

Click on either the dog should be or should not be letters. At the bottom of the page is a letter that starts with should or should not be depending on which you clicked.