Are Politicians Tax Deductible?

One man tried to claim a politician as a tax deduction saying he “pays his salary,” therefore as a taxpayer he should be entitled to use him as a deduction. A woman tried to claim a tax deduction for the months she was pregnant last year even though she gave the baby up for adoption after birth. A man claimed a $25,000 mileage deduction for a business that earned just $10,000 last year.
These are just a few of the examples in the second annual Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants Most Outrageous Tax Deductions. Michelle Singletary, writing in her Color of Money column in this morning’s Washington Post, mentions a few of them.
Singletary also gives some great examples provided by TurboTax of tax deductions the IRS rejected, but a tax court later ruled legitimate. A professional bodybuilder was allowed to deduct as a business expense the cost of body oil he used to “make his muscles glisten under stage lights during competitions.” Singletary says the tax court did not allow him to deduct the cost of the buffalo meat and special vitamin supplements used to develop those muscles.
In December, ABC News reported on the top five things you didn’t know were tax deductible, from stray cats to Uhauls. Read more here.