“Of Course They’re Tax Deductible” by Jim Schwartz

Part 3 –  Continued from “Of Course They’re Tax Deductible” Part 2

“Ah, good,” I said. “Now, let’s get back to the dogs. You said their food was deductible, right?”

“Yes, it should be,” he nodded. “They are cattle dogs, aren’t they?”

“Sure are,” I said. “Darn good ones, too.”

“Then you can take their food as a deduction through the farm,” he confirmed. “Also, any costs to maintain them, such as housing and veterinary expenses.”

“Good,” I told him. “We ain’t got a single cow, ya know?”

“What!” he exclaimed. “Then that changes everything.”

“Why” I asked. “We don’t want no cows.”

“These are cattle dogs we’re talking about, right?”

“Yea,” I said. “Darn good ones, too. Did I tell you that?”

“Yes you did,” Rick said. “But, you don’t have any cows.”

“That’s right,” I told him. “We ain’t supposed to have any.”

“Then why do you have three cow dogs?” he asked, looking puzzled.

“To keep the cows away,” I said. “A cow dog’s job is to keep cows where they are supposed to be. If there ain’t supposed to be any cows on the farm, then the cow dog’s job is to keep ’em off, and these dogs do a darn good job of it.”

Rick didn’t say anything, but he was nodding again, and it was not quite in total agreement so I assumed he needed a little more information.

“We raise fish, right?” I said to him.

“Right,” he answered.

“And, our neighbor has lots of cows,” I added.

“OK,” he said. “But you don’t have cows.”

“Good,” I told him. “Now, you’re getting it.”

“Getting what?” he asked.

 “If we let those cows come over to our farm whenever they wanted, pretty soon they would be drinking up all our fish’s water. Then they’d be wadin’ in the shallow end cause they don’t like to swim, you know? And cows aren’t too picky about where they drop a load, either. Before long, the water would be all green and stinky.”

“That’s a good point,” he said.

“Not to mention how much they would scare my fish,” I continued, not sure if he was convinced yet. “They ain’t used to seein’ cows doin’ all that stuff ’cause the dogs keep’em away.”

“You know the real scary thing about all this?” Rick asked.

“What’s that?”

“I understand what you are saying and you’re right” he said.

“So, the dogs are a write-off, then… like you said?”

“Possibly,” he replied. “I’m not sure, anymore. Maybe you should just do what you think is reasonable.”

 

Thank you Jim!

Jim’s books are available at his IdahoRedNeckGifts.com web site.