All About Dog Taxes
Keeping pets responsibly and correctly always comes at a high cost, particularly when it comes to dogs. And if recently the deputies amended the laws, and now pet owners are legally responsible for the maintenance and behavior of pets, then a new bill is under consideration. He has already managed to excite all dog owners and concerns the introduction of a tax on their maintenance.
Why do you need a tax?
Such a fee for owning these pets should be introduced, according to officials, at the federal level. And it is by no means a punishment. In fact, quite the opposite. Many dog breeders are well aware that on the territory of our country the dog infrastructure is very poorly developed, especially when it comes to small towns and villages. There are usually no special dog walking areas, hairdressing salons and just parks.
This is the introduction of a tax on dog ownership and should remedy this situation.
All collected funds will have a designated purpose and will be used for the construction and improvement of the dog's infrastructure, even in the most distant regions of our country.
The practice of just such taxation has long been quite popular abroad and is used in many countries. However, the majority of Russians protest against the approval of such a bill in our country. Moreover, most of them are against such taxation only because they do not quite understand the essence of the new bill, and also because not all dog owners are sure that money will be spent where it should be.
In which countries does it exist?
In many countries of the world, such a tax has long been introduced. And it concerns the payment of funds once a year, not only for owning dogs, but also for other pets. Moreover, this list includes not only cats, but even such individuals as hamsters and parrots.
All animals are either registered or chipped, and their data is entered into a single federal database of the country. Today this practice is common in countries such as:
- Germany;
- Sweden;
- Switzerland;
- USA;
- Netherlands;
- Japan;
- Israel.
Moreover, it was in Germany and Sweden that the practice of such taxation appeared for the first time.
In some countries, there is both a progressive scale of taxation and the ability to have a dog at home without officially paying a penny for it. This applies, for example, to those cases when the dog was taken from a shelter and there are relevant documents confirming this fact.
In Spain, dog owners, regardless of their breed, pay once a year to the country's treasury 15 euros per animal. But if the pet was taken from a shelter for homeless animals and there are documents confirming this information, then the owner of the dog is officially exempt from tax. It does not matter at all whether he provided shelter to one animal or even several.
But in Holland this tax is progressive. For one pet, its owner pays 57 euros per year to the state treasury, and for each subsequent pet, 85 euros annually. Residents of Sweden pay 100 euros a year for each dog, but the Swiss pay twice as much.
On average, the amount of such a tax cannot exceed 300 units of national currency per animal per year.
If you look closely at the canine infrastructure in these countries, you can be sure that the money goes where it needs to go. There are special parks, playgrounds, hairdressing salons, and even whole spas. At the same time, it is almost impossible to see dog excrement or stray animals on the streets. Residents of all these countries and a number of others are absolutely normal about their tax on keeping pets. Here they strive to create the most comfortable living conditions for pets, including psychological ones.
It is noteworthy that even in Ukraine there is some semblance of such a bill.
Here, their owners do not pay fees for animals, but at the same time, strict state registration of all stray dogs is kept, which are registered and sterilized.
Will it be introduced in Russia?
Until now, this burning question for many Russians remains open. Initially, it was said that the exact decision would be made by the middle of this year.
However, to date, consideration of this bill has been frozen for the time being.
There are several reasons for this. First, the pension reform and many other new bills, which officials had to consider first. And secondly, the total discontent of the owners of the animals. And if the owners of 1-2 dogs, perhaps, would agree to pay the tax, then the situation with the owners of entire kennels is much more complicated.
Firstly, not all owners of these animals generally agree with the introduction of such a tax. According to them, they already spend enough on the maintenance of their dogs - proper nutrition, accessories, regular visits to the veterinarian. Secondly, experts insist that even with all their desire, not all dog breeders will be able to pay this tax, which means that the number of animals that have suddenly become homeless can quickly increase significantly.
It is all these reasons in aggregate that have led to the fact that the consideration and final decision on the adoption or rejection of this bill is suspended today.
Many experts believe that amendments concerning a more attentive and responsible attitude towards pets are enough, but there is no point in making amendments to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The costs of implementing such an idea will be several times higher than the potential income from its implementation.
So for now, there is no definite decision on whether a law on the introduction of taxation on dogs and other pets will be adopted.
Experts say that the situation will finally become clear no earlier than at the end of 2019. But with a greater degree of probability, this bill will either be rejected altogether, or the size of the tax itself and the procedure for calculating it will undergo significant changes.
Features of taxation
But today, despite the fact that the bill is only at the stage of consideration, it highlights several key points.
- The amount of tax payments in the village and in the city will differ significantly even for dogs of the same breed... The reason is simple - in villages and towns, animals are most often kept in enclosures and on a leash. In addition, rural residents do not so much need a developed dog infrastructure, which means they use it less. Urban pets are more active in public places and need specialized walking areas. Based on the needs of the animals themselves and the preferences of their owners, it is planned to create a special calculator that will help calculate the amount of tax on an animal of a particular breed.
- The size of the dog and its dimensions will also be taken into account when calculating the amount to be paid. Therefore, owners of large dogs such as Alabai and Shepherd dogs will have to pay more than owners of Pekingese. The amount of tax on especially dangerous breeds of dogs will be two or three times higher than the standard.
- The tax will be federal, but its final amount will be determined by the constituent entities of the Federation independently, but within the established norms.
- The tax amount will be paid by the owners of the dogs once a year in full. Kennel owners and breeders will be able to split it into two payments of equal amounts.
But it is worth remembering that all these features today are only preliminary approved and it is still too early to say that all of them will be taken into account and included in the bill under consideration.
Despite the successful introduction of such a bill into ordinary life in other states, independent experts in our country are still very skeptical.
And their attitude is supported by many deputies, in particular, representatives of the LDPR party. In their opinion, ordinary citizens of Russia already have too many material worries and other taxes, and their funds are limited. Therefore, the new tax is simply bondage, which many will voluntarily get rid of by giving up pets.
In the next review, you will be able to observe a survey of dog owners on the topic of innovations in taxation.
