New tax legislation favorably impacts Owners, Breeders
Posted on September 22, 2025 by Peter Weisber from the USTA
Peter Weisberg has been involved in harness racing since working as a groom at Monticello Raceway as a teenager in the late 1970s and as a groom/assistant trainer for Mark Loewe in the 1980s (caretaker of 1988 Little Brown Jug runner-up Threefold). Now his participation is as an owner and an accountant for many of the sport’s top trainers and owners.
Weisberg, a CPA/CFP who races as PCW Racing LLC and counts 2024 Dan Patch Award-winning trotter Maryland and promising 2-year-old trotter Zephyr Kemp among the horses he co-owns, said legislation passed this year by Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) contains key provisions that favorably impact horse owners, particularly those involved in breeding and racing.
He offered these thoughts regarding the legislation:
1. Bonus Depreciation
One of the most powerful provisions of OBBBA is the permanent extension of 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying assets — capital expenditures such as racehorses, breeding stock, barns, equipment, and related facilities. Under the prior Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), bonus depreciation was phasing out (40% in 2025, 20% in 2026, and gone by 2027). Thanks to OBBBA, investors in racehorses can now write off the full purchase cost immediately, retroactive to Jan. 20, 2025.