LEGAL - California Bill to Allow Tax Credit for Veterinary Costs

Most every pet owner has received a vet bill and wondered how they were going to afford it.

The American Pet Products Association estimates that pet owners spend $16 billion per year on veterinary care.

To help pet owners in California, Assemblyman Devon Mathis, R-Visalia introduced a bill that would allow dog and cat owners to claim veterinary expenses.

If passed, Assembly Bill 942 will give dog and cat owners in California an income tax credit that allows them to write off 50% of the amount paid for qualified veterinary medical expenses, up to a maximum of $2000 per year.

Mathis said almost everyone he knows has a tragic story about a family dog or cat that had to be euthanized due to a serious and costly medical issue.

“What if you don’t have to put them down?” Mathis said. “This is an incentive to do the surgery and keep them in the family.”

This is not the first such bill to be proposed.

In 2009, then Michigan State Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R) proposed a bill that would allow for pet owners to deduct up to $3500 per calendar year for veterinary health care expenses.

That bill was stalled in the Ways and Means Committee and never passed.

California’s Bill 942 was proposed on February 16 and may be heard as early as March 19.