Leave it to Californians to come up with stupid taxes. But a county in North Carlolina takes the cake. Right now they have the "Rover Fee". That is a fee of $10 per year for neutered pets, $75 for pets that still have their franks and beans.
They want to change that to a "tax" to ward off those pesky people who don't pay the fee.
DURHAM -- Durham County officials say replacing the current annual dog and cat fee with a tax would put some teeth into their efforts to collect thousands of unpaid dollars.Only about 50 percent of the fee money is being collected on the county's 53,800 licensed animals, said Cindy Bailey, animal control administrator.
At the current fee of $10 per animal for neutered pets, the 50 percent rate translates into $269,000 in uncollected money. At the current fee of $75 per animal for un-neutered pets, the 50 percent rate would equal more than $2 million. The actual sum lies somewhere in between.
They are doing this because, afterall, people who don't pay their "fees" are evil SOBs.
"The honest people are paying and the irresponsible people are not," Bailey said.
Proving that we should be allowed to own guns to protect against tyranny of asshat tyrants like these guys the article goes on to explain what will happen if you don't pay this "tax".
People who fail to pay would face the same consequences as not paying other taxes. The pet charge could be taken, for example, from their state tax return or their wages.Commissioner Lewis Cheek said the county should consider enforcing a penalty for not paying the tax, such as 10 times its amount.
"I would hope we make the penalty so great that it really doesn't make sense [not to pay it]," Cheek said.
The position would require a new government position, paying about $31,000. But you have to figure when the union requires the position to be full-time, with benefits, vacation, and all that, the $10 tax for fixed pets, and $75 tax on unfixed pets won't stay at that rate for long.
I say they have a recall election to get that Cheeky fool out of office. That way it doesn't make sense to [to pass it].
Posted by psugrad98 at March 9, 2005 01:37 PM
