If you can't afford £100 tax, should you really have horses?

For me it's more a matter of principal than the actual money. What makes me mad is that I've already paid a big chunk of income tax on all the money that I earn every month. But that's only the start, every penny I spend of what I actually get to bring home is taxed again and again - a portion of the rent I pay on my stable goes towards the council tax cost for the yard, plus the VAT that's included on all the feed & bedding I buy, there's VAT on vets bills, shoeing.......
 
In prinicpal I do think we need more disease surveillace, control and ability to act on an outbreak than we prob currently have.

But do think noone's going to be very happy with defra if we all stump up £100 and then they proceed to be useless if we get an outbreak of EIA or similar.
 
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can I SORN my horse if I keep it in isolation?
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Disclaimer - I wouldn't!

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Lol!....could you SORN your horse if it was retired?

Plus....would some people retire their horse and then pay a tax on it.....or just PTS? Hmmm.....
 
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can I SORN my horse if I keep it in isolation?
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Disclaimer - I wouldn't!

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LOL.........if it's on box rest - surely that's the same as a car being kept garaged and unused
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I agree with trying to control and prevent outbreaks of all dieses (SP) but does this mean that if they bring this in they will then do the dame for cattle, sheep, pigs and other animals that carry and can pass on other outbreaks.

IMO if Defra were actually run like a business and were made to be effiecient then this money would not need to be paid.

I personaly won't pay it, wht they going to do throw me in jail and then overcrowd the system even more.
 
unfortunatly all my money as it is goes on my horses, my horses are happy and healthy just because i cant throw money around doesnt mean i shouldnt have my horses
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and its more the principle what will we be paying it for????

u dont have to be rich to have happy horse
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doubt it, that would just go towards the testing etc (and prob wouldnt cover it) but you might get a refund back on your £100 if they decide culling is the only option.
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(sorry is that in really bad taste, am in a strange mood this morning.....
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We now have 5 horses. So £500 in horse tax
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yes we can afford to pay for it but we would rather not!
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that £500 could quite easily go towards unexpected vet bills, shoes ect ect.

Why should there be a tax on horses and not on any other pet? It is really beyond me.

All my friends at school seem to think all us horse riders are rolling in it and it really makes me
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I am frankly sick to the back teeth of paying extra taxes as the years go by. What next? Dog tax? Hamster tax, this country is ludicrous.

Lee
 
Because horses are not a pet they are to a certain extent, part of the national herd and an important source of income for many, particularly the racing industry. This is the reason that defra would want to be dealing with any outbreak, if they were all just pets they wouldnt care.
 
I do agree a lil that having a horse is a luxury but I work hard all week and pay my TAX so i can have that LUXURY! and as other's have said then on top pay VAT on feed, rugs, saddles, boots etc, so i think the goverment are getting enough money from me by me having my luxury!!!! Having horses is and expensive hobbie/sport so if the goverment thinks we are having an easy ride, there are a lot more sports/hobbies that don't have the expense we have so why not give them a tax for doing something they love!!
 
Well....my horses ARE pets....god knows they bring no revenue in....to my farrier/dentist/feed merchant/YO/Vet certianly they are a source of income....but not to me.

I know its my choice to have them...I'm not on the breadline by any means but I'm not so rich I can afford to not give it a second thought...

Thats £300 a year that would be better spent ON MY HORSES...FFS.....do they not know I NEED to co-ordinate my saddle cloths?????.Not saying they will suffer if I have to pay it, but the money has to be diverted from somewhere...

Got it......will stop feeding the kids
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I think it's more of a case of most people do have 'emergency' cash for their horses if need be, but if you have to start paying out extra large sums like that, then it will be eating into those funds.
And I know id happily 'FIND' the money to make sure my horse had the vet if he needed it but not just for the goverment to take!!


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This.
I'd struggle to find that money. I am broke (yes, because I have a horse) to the point of not being able to have heating on, to eat etc, but that is my choice, I suffer because my horse doesn't go without anything he needs. But if I had to find that £100 in tax (when I've already paid tax on everything else I've bought be it for him or me) he would then quite possibly have to go without some essentials, or it would reduce my set aside 'emergency vet fee' money, which again could compromise his health/any necessary treatment he may one day need. There just seems to be no benefit towards paying it- if there were then I would pay it (begrudgingly!) but I can see no advantages to it being introduced from people like myself, to rescue centers, those with retired horses etc.
 
Just another thing to add.... i'm not sure that some people on here, realise that some of us go without ie nice clothes cars etc as it is just so we can give our horses everything
 
Ok
So let's tax everyone that goes to a football match to pay for the policing. Everyone that buys a ticket for a sporting event has to pay say £10 a head to cover the costs of hospital treatment & police.

Oh sorry i think we already do that in our "normal" taxes.

This does smell of a soft touch. Like so many have said, we pay for our horses out of our taxed income & then spend more on VAT & the like. So why should we have to pay more.
 
I dont think that it is about being able to not afford it i would have to find if brought in now £2100, i would find it but would not hand it over willingly as i see no benefit to me or my horses.
Yes insurance/feed/vet/farrier go up evey year but they are things that we all know we have to pay and do so willingly.
I just think this will be another tax for the honest horse owner, as i am sure there are many out there who do not even have passports for their horses yet.
Why is the horse tax so high compared to chicken, sheep & cows yes i understand that farmers will have many more to pay for but they are getting money from these animals from the government, also they do not have to buy tack and rugs and shoes which the horse owner is also taxed on.
Horse owners = easy money, well not this one
 
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Just another thing to add.... i'm not sure that some people on here, realise that some of us go without ie nice clothes cars etc as it is just so we can give our horses everything

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not sure if that was a QR at me or not.

I'm a postgrad student, I don't have ready cash, what comes in goes out and right now I have more going out, hopefully one day someone will give me a nice well paid job!. My drivers window is wedged up in my car because I can't afford to repair it atm and I certainly don't do nice clothes! But horses are my down time, I dont go out much etc etc so they are what I do.

But I can also see the logic behind the tax.

am still undecided on my opinion on it in a lot of ways.
 
Wonder who will be collecting the horse tax from the travelling community? The same people that check their passports maybe....
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Yep, I fear i might make myself unpopular with this one... and I will of course sign the petition as well... but having horses is a luxury, not a necessity, and if you can't afford to provide all necessary care for your horse it could be detrimental to the animal.

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Some of use do not have this sort of money freely available. I agree horses are a luxury and some of us go without so they can have a horse and cover the expenses they entail. My horse doesn't go without shoes, dental care or veterinary care. However, the horse tax is an additional burden on an already tight budget.
 
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for me its not a matter of being able to afford it and I agree that if you have a horse you shouldn't be thrown into a panic about having to pay a £100 tax.

For me the point is why should we allow ourselves to be an easy target on the assumption that horse owners can afford to pay it. Its just another sign that the horseworld is perceived as being all about class, money and elitism and as we all know, the grass roots of our world isn't like that at all.

I haven't seen any justification of why the horseworld should be taxed in this manner. Its just someone taking £100 off me for no good reason and giving me no benefit in return.

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Quite. I also have two ponies of 12hh. For this I would have to pay £200, despite the fact that one is a companion and never leaves the field (and the other does not go near a competition venue, let alone compete!), whilst somewhere else, an owner might have two 17hh event horses which travel around the country. Hardly an equal 'tax' is it?
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I think I might have to make a stand for this one and say BOLLOCKS to the government.

*waits for telling off from admin*
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QR

Haven't read all of the posts, so sorry if I'm repeating what someone has already said
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I have an elderly horse - 27 year old TBX. I can easily find a couple of hundred quid for vets bills if she needs treatment. Anything more serious than that and I would have to seriously consider her quality of life, and probably end up having her PTS as she wouldn't recover from a serious injury/illness (anything requiring hospitalisation, long periods of box rest etc). I can find this money on credit cards/overdraft etc. Effectively, by getting myself into debt. (If she was younger and insurable, then of course she would be insured and my opinion might be different.)

But why should I get myself into debt to pay another tax? Yes, I can find £100 if I have to, but it wouldn't be easy. I also query whether they would refund the tax should my horse be PTS shortly after paying it. I'm sure I'm not the only person in this situation.
 
I love my horses and earn a very frugal living breeding them. Another tax would cost a foal each year.

What bugs me is that we lose each way - they are not pets, but you try and put a stable up or a shelter and they are not agricultural either - they have you all ways
 
can you get a refund on your car tax if you write it off, I don't know?

I do think that in the event of an outbreak, depending on what the outbreak is the fact that your horse is in a field and not making direct contact with any other horses doesn't make it less susceptible infection, particularly something like EIA which is vector transmitted.
 
I may be missing the point and being really stupid but are they not saying the tax is for deaise? If so why beacuse everyone keeps up with vacinations surley thats enough to stop any spreading? N

Not only that how they going to keep on top of it? Are ment to carry a tax certificate with us when out riding or going anywhere, are we going to be checked at every event?
 
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