TORONTO – He’s one of Canada’s top thoroughbred trainers, but the country’s tax laws are forcing Kevin Attard to consider setting up shop in the United States.
At the crux of the issue is Section 31 of the Income Tax Act. It caps annual loss writeoffs at $17,500 for horse owners whose principal source of income is outside farming.
But in the U.S., owners can write off 100 per cent of the cost of eligible racehorses.
Attard took some of his horses south last winter and is considering of doing the same this year. But the disparity between the two countries’ tax laws has Attard thinking about shifting a bigger portion of his operation to the U.S.
“If it goes well, I may seriously consider keeping a string there throughout the year because it’s just becoming too difficult now here,” Attard said. ”(Canadian tax laws are) basically forcing my hand to do something like that.”
That’s significant given Attard’s standing in Canadian thoroughbred racing. He’s won the King’s Plate three times and was the country’s top trainer in 2024.
Attard has 75 horses at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack and another 30 at a farm he rents in Caledon, Ont. He employs over 60 people to care for them.
“The cost of maintaining a horse in training is not cheap and to only be able to write off $17,500 in a practical business, it makes no sense,” Attard said. “We’re not asking for a handout, just for a level playing field.”
In 2023, Woodbine Racetrack housed approximately 1,900 horses. That’s down to roughly 1,600 now and the fear is it will continue to drop as more Canadian horses, breeders and buyers head south because of the American tax break.
In Ontario, it’s estimated between 30,000 and 50,000 people make a living or find seasonal/part-time work in racing. But industry leaders feel Canada’s tax laws are leading to fewer horses, races and jobs and that no other Canadian economic sector faces such limitations.
Canuck Racing Club, a thoroughbred ownership and racing organization, operates out of Woodbine. Managing director Mark Halloran says while the company is proudly Canadian and has no plans to leave the country entirely, it’s close to expanding its business into the U.S.
“We’re very Canadian and are going to continue to build it,” Halloran said. “But at the same time, it behooves us as business individuals to open up a leg down in the U.S.
“The ability to compete in a marketplace that looks at horse racing as a commercial enterprise provides the owners of those horses with the ability to have writeoffs against the profits they make. Within Canada we limit those, then it discourages people from investing in the first place. If you got rid of something like Section 31 there’d be more investment and therefore more jobs.”
Halloran said Section 31 handcuffs Canadian horse people.
“You know, $17,500 is the price of a Mars bar,” he said. “A horse costs exponentially more than that.
“Every horse we buy is an ecosystem of employment. For an economy to not validate the fact that this is a cultural enterprise is just sad.”
Section 31, however, has been successfully challenged.
In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against the Crown’s appeal and sided with horse owner John Craig, who’d petitioned to deduct more than the $8,750 that was then allowed under Section 31.
Instead of scrapping Section 31, the federal government changed its wording and boosted the maximum deduction to $17,500. The section has remained unchanged since 2013.
“It (Section 31) is just so outdated,” said Sue Leslie, the Ontario president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). “It’s very easy to fix and that’s what’s so frustrating.
“It’s about getting the attention of the right people. If we could get before the Prime Minister, I’m very convinced he’d come onside because we fit into the program he wants to lead his government in this country. But it’s getting there … to get him to look at this.”
Attard said Canada will always be his home, but he’s also tasked with doing what’s best for his operation.
“I love Woodbine, I’m a proud Canadian but by the same token I’m also a businessman,” he said. “If that means opening a string in the U.S. to try and take advantage of those clients there, then I’d have no choice but to do so because with the cost of everything these days, it’s becoming more difficult.
“But with time comes change and it just seems like for whatever reason this tax law has kind of been skipped over. I think it just needs to come to the forefront and then smarter minds will see the benefit and potential advantages of changing this. We want racing to be self-sufficient and I think this would be a step in helping it get to that.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
