Dog tax? A hugely contentious issue, we know! Not everyone complies, which is why some municipalities regularly send out external companies to find unregistered dogs. Let's take a closer look at this thing.
Since when has there been a dog tax?
A compulsory tax for keeping dogs has existed since the 15th century. Originally, the revenue was to be used to pay off war debts. Nevertheless, the regulation of the dog population was an additional criterion early on.
Why does dog tax still exist today?
Today there are two main arguments: 1. as a so-called steering tax to curb dog ownership and 2. for more revenue.
What happens to the dog tax?
The dog tax is a municipal petty tax. As with all taxes, the revenue is not earmarked for a specific purpose. This means that the revenue from dog tax goes directly into the budget of your municipality. If a municipality is in financial distress, dog tax is often one of the first sources of revenue to be increased.
Then I can also leave the dog poo lying around ...
No. You can't! The installation of poop bag dispensers or free-range areas is also a voluntary service provided by the municipality. Sometimes there is probably also a bit of a guilty conscience involved.
What exactly is taxed in dog tax?
Strictly speaking, it is not the keeping of the dog that is taxed, but the expenditure of the dog owner. To put it bluntly (and please don't get upset now), a dog owner has "resources" that enable him to keep a luxury animal. This "effort" is taxed, which is why a dog tax is also referred to as a tax on expenditure.
Why are cats and horses not taxed?
Cats are not taxed in order (1) not to increase the misery of cats (abandonment, no longer care for them) and (2) because cats can hardly be assigned to a household. To do this, free-roaming cats would have to be caught and checked for a chip. This requires very athletic and scratch-resistant administrative staff. In addition, many municipalities are afraid of being responsible for the cats that cannot be assigned.
Horses are only collected in two municipalities in Germany as of April 2021. These are Kirchheim and Schlangenbad, both in Hesse. Other Hessian municipalities have abolished the horse tax again. For the riding clubs and pony schools in the municipalities, the decisions came too late in some cases. Schleswig - Holstein has also banned the introduction of a horse tax against this background.
Is every dog taxed?
No! Dogs that are necessary for the main occupation of the owner are not taxed. Guide dogs are also tax-exempt. Rescue dogs, on the other hand, can be taxed. This is outrageous! Guard dogs of houses jwd (janz far out) are often exempt. Service and reporting dogs are also not necessarily tax-exempt. In some cities, dogs belonging to people with a severely disabled pass or the unemployed are exempt.
How high can a dog tax be?
The legislator says: The amount of the tax must not have a stifling effect. I see. In concrete terms, this means that it must not make it impossible to keep a dog. Now this is very individual, because there are rich and less rich dog owners. In Bavaria, the owner of a Rottweiler once sued after he was ordered to pay 2,000 euros for his dog, which had no behaviour at all. The court ruled in his favour. Nevertheless, there are municipalities that charge four-digit dog taxes for so-called fighting dogs.
And what if someone can't pay the dog tax?
If you're referring to the case with the pug in Ahlen (district of Warendorf), that was of course a real clop. You can read about it here. We once called a city council and asked what they recommend to dog owners who can't pay their dog tax. Clear advice: Don't wait, call immediately and work on a solution. This includes, for example, small monthly instalments.
Why doesn't anyone actually sue away the dog tax?
Someone tried that once. It was the lawyer Dr. Vitt, but the story went thoroughly wrong. Dr. Vitt had fought his way through the courts and finally ended up before the European Court of Justice. There, the application was lost and, poof... the proceedings were declared over. Well...
The Taxpayers' Association would also like to close the file on the abolition of dog tax. They consider the dog tax to be disproportionate. The dog is a family member and not a luxury item. Therefore, the tax is questionable. By the way, you can read about it here.