ANN ROMNEY TWITTER : “It’s great to be part of the Olympics again. We are so proud of Jan and Team USA. Now let’s bring home the gold!”

That’s right … the U.S. Equestrian Federation is expected to confirm that Ann Romney’s dressage horse, Rafalca, and her trainer, Jan Ebeling, earned a place on the U.S. Olympic Equestrian team. The dressage competition, also called “horse ballet“, may also feature Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, following a Royal Family tradition as her father, Mark won gold in team event at the 1972 Munich Games and the silver medal in the same event at the 1988 Seoul Games while her mother, Princess Anne, was also a rider and a European Championship gold medalist in 1971, is seeking a spot for this year’s Olympics.

For those not familiar with dressage, riders wordlessly guide their horses through a precise series of movements. To the untrained eye, the movements look like effortless prancing or hopping or zigzagging across a ring. But the training that goes into such performances is intense.

Gosh, that does appear to describe Mitt Romney … trained to perform … wordlessly guided to follow a precise script … zigzagging over issues (or in political parlance Flip-flopping).
No doubt, Mitt Romney has been trained … but he does not appear to be effortless – too often he’s just stiff and does not appear at ease.

America be proud … because of the tax policy, this is not just Ann Romney’s horse, this is America’s horse.

Turns out that for nearly ten years, Ann Romney has trained and ridden with Jan and Amy Ebeling, who own the Acres, a Mediterranean-style ranch in Moorpark, CA about 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Romney is a partner with the Ebelings in the Acres, and she and Amy Ebeling own Rob Rom Enterprises LLC, a foreign corporation registered in Delaware that buys and trains dressage horses.

A spokeswoman for the Romney campaign would not discuss the costs associated with Ann Romney’s horses. “We are not required to disclose this information,” said Amanda Henneberg in an emailed statement.

However, the Romneys reported a $77,000 loss from the partnership owning Rafalca on their 2010 return.

Therefore, the Romneys consider this a business … and as a business, they claim the losses on their tax returns.

Yet, the question should be asked :
Is this a “hobby” or a real attempt to operate a profitable business ?
Yes, money can be gained from breeding or “buying and selling” horses or through prize money (for example, the June 29-July 1, 2012 Rocky Mountain Show will have $20,000 in prize money) … but has the Romney’s met the IRS requirement of a business ?
The IRS rules for determining if an activity qualifies as a business if it makes a profit during at least three of the last five tax years … but without the Romneys releasing those past years, this will be just another nagging question related to the R-money’s tax havens.

With this tax loss, the Romney’s pay less into the US Treasury to pay for the Defense Department that wannabe Commander-in-Chief Romney wants to expand. It’s another way that the affluent use tax policy to avoid paying their fair share.

But Romneys are not alone … there are others, too … and they have money.

As the Sunlight Foundation reported :
Horse-focused PACs like the American Horse Council, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and horse breeders and owners have contributed more than $8.7 million to political candidates and parties since 1989 and spent $2.2 million more lobbying. And some of the top donors to these organizations are mega-donors in their own right, having contributed millions more to politicians, parties, PACs and super PACs.
For example, Janet Duchossois made $250,000 contribution to the RomneyPAC Restore Our Future.

The tax breaks created via Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Equine Equity Act could have ended in 2010 … but as part of the legislation to approve a bill to extend unemployment benefits for workers who lost their jobs in the Great Recession, these tax breaks for owners of colts and fillies, mares and stallions were extended two years.

Would wannabe-President Mitt Romney extended these tax credits again?
Well, we know that Mitt R-money does have “good friends who own NASCAR teams” and the auto racing industry is facing the end of a favorable tax treatment at the end of this year (curent tax laws lets track owners depreciate capital costs over seven years instead of the usual 15 or 39 years).

This week, John Kline (R-MN-02) stated in Red Wing that he believes tax reform will bring in more revenue without raising rates … but he also said the best way to improve the economy is to extend the Bush-era tax credits and provide businesses with some certainty.
HOW are those concepts compatible when the Special Interests dictate tax policy ?

Romney and Kline … Zigzagging is their political theme … protecting special interests is their mission.