NTRA Issues Horse PAC Annual Report
Description:
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association March 2 released the 2015 annual report for its bipartisan federal Political Action Committee, Horse PAC.
Horse PAC disbursed $288,500 in 2015, a 27% increase over the prior year's total of $227,000 and the second-largest disbursement for a non-election year since the founding of Horse PAC in 2002. Horse PAC supported 45 candidates and 22 leadership and congressional PACs.
Under the leadership of chairman William S. Farish Jr., the Horse PAC board of directors raised $276,742 in 2015, its second-largest total since the start of the recession in 2008 and a slight dip from 2014's $293,405. The funds were raised from 166 NTRA members, including 36 first-time donors and 40 donors who gave at the maximum level of $5,000.
The NTRA said the congressional year brought a considerable number of benefits to horse racing, highlighted by steps toward modernization of income tax withholding and reporting for horseplayers. Two appropriations bills passed by Congress carried provisions backed by the NTRA and subsequently signed into law by President Obama: three-year depreciation for racehorses, bonus depreciation of 50%, the Section 179 expense allowance for major purchases (now permanent), and relief for H-2B visa employers such as trainers.
"Our industry's legislative achievements would not be possible without the dynamic interplay of NTRA's federal lobbying and Horse PAC," Horse PAC president Margaret E. Hendershot said.
The Horse PAC Annual Report for 2015 has been be mailed to PAC contributors. A PDF version of the report can be found online.
Horse PAC supports federal political candidates who serve on congressional committees that oversee matters pertaining to livestock and agriculture issues, Internet gaming, taxation, immigration, and the Interstate Horseracing Act; are established congressional leaders; understand horse racing's issues; have racetracks, breeding farms, training centers, or advance deposit wagering systems in their states; are members of the Congressional Horse Caucus; or are emerging leaders meriting early support in their legislative careers.