Swiss village: pay your dog tax or fido gets it

Swiss village: pay your dog tax or fido gets it

www.msnbc.msn.com

GENEVA — A Swiss village has found a drastic way to compel dog holders to pay their pet's annual tax: cough up, or the dog gets it.

Reconvilier — population 2,245 humans, 280 dogs — plans to put fido on notice if its owner doesn't pay the annual $50 tax.

Local official Pierre-Alain Nemitz says the move is part of an effort to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

He says a law from 1904 allows the village to kill dogs if its owner does not pay the canine charge.

Nemitz

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Nemitz is playing with fire IMO. The Swiss are a Armed society and will look down on anyone killing there dog, just ask any American.

I do wish more stories were of gift giving and love and kindness, but unfortunately that isn't the world we have created. The PTB really suck, and these guys in this story are local....stupid people.

On 280 dogs at $50 a year that 14k a year, I guess they are going to charge back years to come up with his hundreds of thousands of dollars???



www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by LDragonFire

I wouldn't mess with the swiss government,have you seen the knives their army carries:



Bad ASS!

my short and not so sweet answer....I hate this world... hold that thought.
i love the world its the systemI i hate and most of society.

reply to post by LDragonFire


This is just great,if someone doesn't have the money
to pay the tax,their dog gets killed!
What a wonderful world we live in and the politicians
who control it

Reply to post by mamabeth

I suppose if you cant afford the tax you cant afford to properly feed and care for your dog either. So the state is doing the dog a favor by killing it.

Just like if Grandma didnt save enough for retirement and you cant afford to care for her yourself the state would be doing her a favor by killing her.

We have to prove to the state that we are all worth keeping alive by tithing. When we fail to tithe we fail to prove valuable to the state.

For the greater good the state will remove us.

Yay state!


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Further evidence that idiocy is a requirement globally to be a politician.. Politicians need to get off their lazy arses and get real jobs instead of extorting money from citizens to support their corrupt , lazy arses..

This is petty greed, for that amount of dogs to support that much in taxes is totally ridiculous.

I would opt to allow this if the City Fool who puts his stamp on this eats what he kills! Otherwise he should look to financing his "Authority" in some other manner.

For the population versus dog numbers I dare say this town is for the Cats!

I can see the point of a tax on pet owning - the intrinsic costs of pets aren't always apparent, and so some people get a dog and then keep it in horrific conditions or send it to a rescue centre because they can't afford to keep it properly, and so a tax discourages people from casual purchase of living animals - but it should only be applicable to people who purchased the dog AFTER the tax had come to public attention, and such people, on buying dogs, should have to sign to say that they are aware of the tax (or not be allowed to buy dogs).


Putting the dogs to sleep isn't right, they should just sterilise them if they aren't paid for. Less stressful for both pets and owners.

And if you give them some sort of hormone replacement, then there don't even have to be any health implications. Whereas death is generally considered bad for your health.

The law has been in effect since 1904 and has never been used.

Shameless reporting by the Blick, a notorious Swiss tabloid in order to fill a space which is normally filled by celebrity gossip.

Now the authorities in Reconvilier will have to use tax payer money to amend the law because it "looks bad".

I have spent a lot of time in Switzerland, the Swiss love their animals, and not just the domesticated kind. The Swiss take a lot of pride in their humane treatment of livestock as well. meat is VERY rarely imported and is usually freshly butchered that morning from a local farm, even in the few big supermarkets.

My mother has a dog. My mother is elderly. The Swiss government has actually provided her with a "helper" at tax payers expense to assist her in looking after her dog. The helper comes by a few times a week to make sure the dog is walked, bathed, and healthy ( my mom is forgetful, still able to be independent, but needs some help).

This sensational story is no way a reflection of the Swiss attitude to animals, it's a sensationalist fluff piece published by a well known tabloid and picked up by a few mainstream papers and media outlets to fill space.

Originally posted by Merigold
I have spent a lot of time in Switzerland, the Swiss love their animals, and not just the domesticated kind.

I've spent a lot of time in Switzerland, too. They love animals and nature, but they also can have appreciation of laws. Ordnung ist ordnung, you know. So I doubt dogs will be killed, but I guess the local govt got the attention of the owners. I'm sure there are other ways to collect, of course. If one insists on messing with the Swiss government, they ultimately will be on the receiving end.

The Swiss take a lot of pride in their humane treatment of livestock as well. meat is VERY rarely imported

That is because of protectionist regulations of draconian levels. It's like they found 5 metric tons of French contraband beef and it's national news.

I wish America had some kind of pet tax. I don't see this as being a bad thing, I honestly think that this will do a lot of animals a huge favor.

Hmm, Guess they didn't have any protections in the Geneva convention for dogs, and that city's leaders just figured it out.. "Hey Hansel, if dey don't pay te tax we vill kill all teh doggies! "

Or maybe the offspring from Hitler's guards that were saved by the Geneva convention, are now running the city?

Doesn't seem civilized and seems like 2011 is off to wonderful start for "unenlightenment"

s-f

Originally posted by Rockdisjoint
I wish America had some kind of pet tax. I don't see this as being a bad thing, I honestly think that this will do a lot of animals a huge favor.

dude, if the SWISS can't enforce it, there is no chance in hell it'll work in the US

reply to post by buddhasystem

Ordnung ist ordnung, you know.

Indeed! Thing is though, the Swiss are in general a very law abiding people.

But yes I know what you mean. When I was first their I made the mistake of using a garbage bag which wasn't allowed. 2 weeks after disposing of the offending bag of trash in a communal bin I was served with a fine of 90 franks..they went through my trash to identify me!

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


What about 'toy dogs' that never leave the house anything under 10# pomeranian, pugs, pekenese chihuahus etc.

Slippery slope here. next it will be cats, birds, fish, children, uninvited squirrels in your yard etc.

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

This is just great,if someone doesn't have the money
to pay the tax,their dog gets killed!
What a wonderful world we live in and the politicians
who control it

Ok - I get the Humanity/God's creature part.

But how is it OK for people to pick and choose which laws to obey?

If you know there is a dog tax - - and you can't pay it - - then you shouldn't have a dog.

We don't know what this tax money is used for. Maybe its used to support Animal Control officers. Suppose you are an Animal Control officer with 3 kids - - and you get laid off because there isn't enough tax money to pay your salary.

Seriously - - ya can't just go: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh - the poor dog owner".

You should never have to pay a tax to keep a pet. It is intrusive and nothing but a money grab for municipalities. I don't know if there are areas in the US that currently do this, but various towns in Canada have implemented a 'dog license', which is nothing more than an useless tax. IMO this infringes on basic freedoms.

Originally posted by rimjaja
You should never have to pay a tax to keep a pet. It is intrusive and nothing but a money grab for municipalities. I don't know if there are areas in the US that currently do this, but various towns in Canada have implemented a 'dog license', which is nothing more than an useless tax. IMO this infringes on basic freedoms.

Are you assuming everyone is a great pet owner?

That all pet owners get their dogs vaccinated - spayed - contained?

That "free roaming" pets in municipal areas don't cause destruction that requires funds to clean up?

Sentiment is not always the reality of the situation.

Originally posted by Merigold
reply to post by buddhasystem

 

Ordnung ist ordnung, you know.

Indeed! Thing is though, the Swiss are in general a very law abiding people.

But yes I know what you mean. When I was first their I made the mistake of using a garbage bag which wasn't allowed. 2 weeks after disposing of the offending bag of trash in a communal bin I was served with a fine of 90 franks..they went through my trash to identify me!

Yes, I heard the garbage bag stories. You are not the first one to experience this

A person from Texas didn't pay his speeding ticket in Geneva and went back to the US. Three years later he's flying to GVA, checks into his hotel. At 3 in the morning, knock knock on the door. Arrested.

And can you imagine, the whole things works...