On August 4th, The Humane Society of the United States praised the U.S. Senate for including a provision in the Pension Reform Act, passed last night by the Senate and last week by the House of Representatives, to close a loophole in the tax code that has been exploited by trophy hunters and allowed them to unfairly deduct the costs of their hunting excursions across the globe. The HSUS uncovered the scam and brought it to the attention of Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who shepherded the taxidermy tax scam provision to passage.
The inclusion of this provision will help protect wildlife around the world and save American taxpayers an estimated $49 million over the next decade. The president is expected to sign the Pension Protection Act, which was approved by wide margins in both chambers.
"The phoniness of this kind of donation called out for congressional action," Grassley said. "It was time for self-enriching hunters to become the hunted. Thanks to the Humane Society of the United States, we're taking the tax cheating out of taxidermy. I'm grateful for the group's diligent work in exposing this scam in the first place and then helping Congress shut it down."
A two-year investigation by The HSUS revealed that some trophy hunters were shooting rare animals around the world and donating their mounted prizes to phony museums in order to take a tax deduction. It didn't matter if the pseudo-museum was set up in the hunter's own living room. Investigators even found 800 "donated" trophy mounts gathering dust in an old railroad car.
"This safari swindle involved a big-game hunter shooting an exotic animal in Asia, in Africa, or at a drive-through 'canned hunt' here in the United States
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