[smiffy]

How do you all feel about this? and is any of the official farming support bodies campaining against it?

figures for horses have been actually suggested (at £10.50 per animal). However, this is something which is being proposed for all animal owners, not just those with farm livestock and horses. It is most likely that this will be based upon headage (ie per animals). Plans are that this will also affect companion animals too – including cage birds, reptiles, cats and dogs.

my opinion is that it will cripple an already dying farming community and add further presure to smallholders who struggle to break even

[Hellybee]

This is something that really gets my back up, we got to have all foals chipped now to get full WPCS passport.  Bigger numbers have been bandied about about the levy also it has been suggested that owners will have to pay twice if at other grazing during the year.  It also worries me about what effect it will have on the farming community and also the welfare of some animals that unscrupulous owners will just dump to be rid of them. 

 Apparently too the horse industry costs the UK taxpayer £40m...how

Worrying when you think that cases of Equine Infectious Anaemia were imported into this country from countries that did nt carry out the correct quarantine and blood testing lte last year, shouldnt border controls be a tad tighter before they start asking use for even more money.  And what about FMD, the last outbreak was from a lab and the one before i heard of Defra personnel not even taking proper disease control measures in the outbreak before. The other  biggie that keeps getting brought up is research into african horse sickeness.

Its just another cash cow.

I would happily pay every few years for this  but not yearly.

Our bill would be £2100 a year .     

[smiffy]

i hate to think what my bill would be......

i can account for the horses and cattle as the horses are all old girls so no foals, it would be the same year in year out. the cattle just calve once a year, so again not too complicated

BUT the pigs and poultry, would you pay just for breeding stock or every time you had a litter or chick hatch, would you pay as you go?

and as for pets well it bl***y stupid, how on earth will they know how many cats dogs hamsters rabbits and reptiles people keep

the thing is i have no doubt that the government will try and rail road this in, on another forum they are discussing that all dogs will need to be microchipped and insured, i think this will be a back door way of discovering the number of uk canines and location so they will be easy to tax.

at some point the public are going to have to backlash and join together... it might be horses now and people will be thinking 'well we dont have a horse so no need to worry' but can they afford it when all animals enter the scheme?

I think i would have to give up smallholding if the cost per head off animals is anywhere near what they are banding for equines, the bill would run into thousaNDS AND LETS FACE IT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET £60 FOR A PEDIGREE WEANER, BUT THE PIGS THAT DONT MAKE THE GRADE ARE WORTH LESS AND IF YOU NEED TO TAKE THEM TO MART RARE BREED PIGS MAKE VERY L;ITTLE

[Hellybee]

"""i think this will be a back door way of discovering the number of uk canines and location so they will be easy to tax. """""

EXACTLY...but on the other hand, what they gonna do, bang everyone up or fine them.....MARCH ON WESTMINSTER I SAY and i ll also be checking out the meetings too

[smiffy]

dog licencing was stopped cos it was unecconomic, that was a one off payment, you can bet that any new dog laws will involve a  yearly cost, operated by a department full of inefficency, which will cost the tax payer more than the revenue and result in increased annual cost...

dont get me wrong, if i truely believed what the men in black were considering would benifit the animals i would be behind it 100%, i just think it is another way for a govenment in the red to try and recover income from an already overtaxed populas

Farming is a struggling way of life, dairy farmers make less money than they did 50 years ago, the new tax will cripple this industry. As far as i can see none of the cost sharing will increase animal welfare, rather the added cost will mean cost cutting elswhere, how can this possibly help animal welfare???

and when our green land no longer has any farmers, therefore no tax on cow farts, we will import all our beef from abroad, on aeroplanes, cheep meat will become more expensive, and the greenhouse effect will surely be more damaging from that mode of transport, the cows although no longer bred and raised in britain under strick welfare rules will be raised in africa or brazil, and imported. (and dont tell me foriegn cows fart any less!!!)

[Jackie]

I wonder how much more the British public will take before we have some sort of civil uprising that makes a difference.

We are already the highest taxed country in the world, and that includes Switzerland and the USA

[Hilarysmum]

I h ave a feeling we paid per dog per year on the dog licence. might be wrong it was a l ong time ago.  Re chipping its mandatory here in France for dogs and cats. I know that at least 50% of the people I know dont have their animals chipped - then if Bowser bites the postman they just say its not there dog (no chip ) no insurance no cost. 

[bazzais]

An absolutely crazy idea.

Animals not directly in the food chain such as horses, dog, cats etc are all subject to VAT and all animals when sold or traded have any profits from the sales taxed as normal - therefor they are contributing to the taxation system just like any other commodity, purchase or service. Its this money that should be used to fund any research needed to keep our livestock safe from diseases.

I can see why many people without animals may see it as a fair tax as they may end up paying for research that does not effect them - but thats what tax is about - society sharing the responsibility.  For example all of us contribute the same levels of tax proceeds when it comes to road building, but not all of us will travel over multi million pound road project in or around cities.

As has been said, I imagine that any implementation of this tax would cost more than the revenue created -pointless.

If they want to make any tax relating to horses (tenuous link) they should start by making all the UK sportsbook providers running from Alderny and other British tax havens subject to VAT!

Ta

Baz