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Village Threatens To Kill Dogs Over Unpaid Pet Tax

Posted by samzenpus on from the or-fido-gets-it dept.

The Swiss village of Reconvilier is serious about collecting pet taxes, dead serious. Officials recently said that dog owners who haven't paid their pet tax face having their dogs killed. Local official Pierre-Alain Nemitz says, "This isn't about a mass execution of dogs. It's meant to put pressure on people who don't cooperate." You don't want to know what happens when you don't pay an excise tax in Reconvilier!

6 comments

  1. Really dumb strategy to begin with. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A pet tax is a stupid tax enacted by stupid people on other stupid people. A few intelligent people are guranteed to wonder to themselves "well, what happens if I don't pay it? will they come and take my dog away?", and then not pay it, and then what are you going to do, come and take their dogs away? And then what will you do with the dogs?!

  2. George Washington by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  3. why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its nice that the government does just about nothing for my dog, which is how i like it, but why the hell do i hav to pay them to keep there dirty nose out of my shit!

    1. Re:why? by vlm · · Score: 1

      its nice that the government does just about nothing for my dog, which is how i like it, but why the hell do i hav to pay them to keep there dirty nose out of my shit!

      A large fraction of dog owners do not properly train their dogs, thus endless barking, thus endless disturbing the peace police calls. Also raw (animal) sewage getting washed into the storm sewers and into the river. Finally its a proxy for registering rabies vaccinations. Rather than dealing with multiple vets or multiple 3rd parties, you simply prove vaccination to the govt and they proxy that knowledge to the inevitable bite victims.

      If they got rid of the tax, the tiny fraction of good owners would benefit from lower costs (obviously) while the larger fraction of bad owners would simply have to pay higher tickets / fees and historically bad owners have been credit risks whom don't pay and the fees have been less than collection costs... So its easier to just bill all the owners every year. Rather like how I pay car insurance all the time, despite only having needed it twice in my life.

      On the other hand, I have no idea why indoor housecats "need" a license other than pure fundraising. My father always said that he knew it was time to move out of his dying urban community a couple decades ago when they wanted to start cat licenses. Next thing up is tropical fish taxes. Maybe they could tax the squirrels in my neighbors yard...

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    2. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A large fraction of dog owners do not properly train their dogs

      What's "a large fraction" and how about a citation?

      the tiny fraction of good owners

      the larger fraction of bad owners

      historically bad owners have been credit risks whom don't pay and the fees have been less than collection costs

      A citation is very badly needed for these strong claims.

      Also, the irresponsible ownership of housecats absolutely has serious consequences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cats.

  4. Village Threatens To Kill Dogs Over Unpaid Pet Tax by ww4PawsPetFood.co.uk · · Score: 1

    It is absolutely disgusting that a so called civilised western society can threaten to condem dogs for their irresponsible owners not paying taxes, these animals are intelligent loving creatures and shouldn't face this sort of action due to dumb human owners[url=http://www.4pawspetfood.co.uk].[/url]