If you are one of those who can fork over the mega-bucks it takes to hunt big game in Africa, then it's a good bet that you have a stable of tax accountants to help you offset the costs.
Great white hunterdom is expensive. Ask Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who paid more than $50,000 to hunt Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe. Ask Corey Knowlton, the Dallas big game hunter who paid $350,000 in January 2014 for the permit to take out a black rhino in Namibia. And those amounts are just for the government-issued hunting permits. Toss in airfare, or more likely private jet expenses roundtrip to Harare or Windhoek, Land Rover fuel, guides, ammo, taxidermy and it adds up fast. (Global outrage included at no additional charge.)
After you've washed had the servants wash the dust of Africa off your safari boots, what's a 1%er to do? You summon your financial lackeys who can steer you to a little known tax write-off to recoup your safari expenses.
Track down more information below the orange lion scat.
Nestled among the giant saguaro cactus on the west side of Tucson, Arizona is the International Wildlife Museum. It is chocked full of lions, tigers and bears. Dead ones. Stuffed ones. Full-sized stuffed ones. The Museum's dioramas and displays are the pinnacle of large animal taxidermy, if you have an appreciation for that kind of thing.
The International Wildlife Museum is a not-for-profit educational subsidiary project of Safari Club International's foundation. As such, the Museum is an educational charity under U.S. tax law. Contributions to such charities are tax deductible.
Contribute a dollar to help the Museum carry out its educational mission and you can deduct that dollar from your federal and state income taxes.
Attend an all wild game fundraiser dinner for the Museum and you can deduct the cost of your tickets less the fair market value of the meal.
Contribute a life-sized stuffed African elephant to be displayed in the educational exhibits and your financial minions should be able to get you a swell writeoff. That kind of tax juju is outside the experience of those of us in the 99%.
The International Wildlife Museum was started in 1988. According to its web site,
"...all the animals found at the museum were donated by various government agencies, wildlife rehabilitation centers, captive breeding programs, zoos and individuals."
Emphasis on the word "individuals."
One individual, in particular, C.J. McElroy, the Museum's founder, shot many of the grotesquely preserved large game animal heads mounted on the walls of a hall named after McElroy. At its launch, the Museum was criticized by environmentalists and conservationists as nothing more than a tax writeoff where the now deceased McElroy and his big game hunting buddies or their estates, could unload their trophies and ring up tax savings.
The Museum also houses the headquarters of Safari Club International, which suspended Walter Palmer's membership, as well as the membership of Palmer's Zimbabwean guide, professional hunter Theo Bronchorst.
Palmer is, or was one of 50,000 members worldwide claimed by Safari Club International, "...dedicated to the conservation of wildlife, education of the people, and the protection of hunters' rights." But, I suspect with the furore over Cecil the Lion, not necessarily in that order.