Taxing the Dogs

I just recently received a letter from the County's Tax Administration Division regarding my wonderful dog, Stella. The letter contained a 2014 Dog License Application and states "Virginia law requires that veterinarians report to the local jurisdiction information concerning animals that have recently received a rabies vaccination. In turn, the jurisdiction must send a license application to the owner when no license has been issued." No where on the application does it say what the actual license is for, so I decided to do some investigating.

I contacted the Tax Administration Division's Customer Service department and inquired about the purpose of the dog license. To my utter surprise, the law is a Virginia State law stating: "It shall be unlawful for any person other than a releasing agency that has registered as such annually with local animal control to own a dog four months old or older in the Commonwealth unless such dog is licensed, as required by the provisions of this article." The County however is the agency that enforces the license and requires a tax be imposed for said license. It appears the law and subsequent tax was written to control the spread of rabies, but the only reason the County even knows I own a dog is because they force my veterinarian to inform them about the rabies vaccination my dog received!!

This is not the worst of it. The County also has the authority to confiscate and dispose of your dog if you fail to pay the annual license tax. You read that right, the government is going to tax you to own your dog and if you don't pay the piper they are going to take your dog and dispose of it. There is another catch, if you pay the tax, the revenue goes to funding Animal Control Enforcement. Now who do you think would be coming to confiscate and dispose of your dog if you failed to pay the tax?

Sadly the threat of confiscating and disposing of your dog is all to real in today's trying budgetary times as governments look for anyway to increase revenue.  In 2011 in Reconvilier, Switzerland a town official threatened to exterminate the dogs referencing a 1960s purge: "We took them to a knacker's yard, shot them in the head, and it was done."

Next time you are at the ASPCA, Humane Society, or your local breeder looking to adopt or welcome a new dog into your life, you better ask the state of Virginia and the government of Prince William County first and hope things don't escalate to Swiss levels!

You can find the Prince William County Code here. Chapter 4 Article IV.