Tax on horses

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crabbymare

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I picked this up on another site. looks like part of Germany is bringing in a horse tax in 2013 Horse tax there is a petition that I will be signing as I have friends near there and hopefully the powers that be will maybe think again when they see the news has gone global and taxing sport is not a good idea :(
 
crabbymare said:
I picked this up on another site. looks like part of Germany is bringing in a horse tax in 2013 Horse tax there is a petition that I will be signing as I have friends near there and hopefully the powers that be will maybe think again when they see the news has gone global and taxing sport is not a good idea :(
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What exactly does this mean? A tax per head, something like a road fund licence? A tax based on the horse's value or activity? Why is it being introduced?

How will they enforce it? In France every horse and keeper should be registered on the National Database but I know of lots of Brits who are not complying with French law.
 
Its being introduced because the area has a deficit and want to make some money so have decided to tax horses. as all horses in Germany are classed as livestock so have to be registered with disease control I imagine they would get the information from there :confused: otherwise I imagine they would know who has riding stables or breeds or is with a riding club so would go there first but to me its going to cost a lot to enforce it. Its per head so if you had a few horses even retired ones tjhe bill will soon add up to a decent amount
 
A very smiliar scheme was discussed several years ago about the time when passports came in as some of my liveries refused to get them as they thought it was a way of the government getting to know who had horses in order to tax them. I think it has been put on the back burner though.
 
Choccie said:
A very smiliar scheme was discussed several years ago about the time when passports came in as some of my liveries refused to get them as they thought it was a way of the government getting to know who had horses in order to tax them. I think it has been put on the back burner though.
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I remember that, it was certainly considered. Mind you, as we all know, we are all loaded with plenty to spare, must be eh, to be able to have horses! I wonder how many more horses would suffer if they brought something similar in over here, so many can't afford them already. It would of course be the same as the passports, the law abiding owners would pay, the ones who don't pay for passports won't pay the tax.
 
I don't understand what their reasoning is behind it. Its not as if horses cause damage to roads or emit pollution (bar methane!). Just seems like a way to get more money out of people, an unjustifiable one at that. Very difficult to enforce though surely.
 
It is just a money raising exercise but the national federation is saying its an illegal tax so hopefully if enough people sign the petition and write to the politicians they may change their minds. I've done a hunt for information and there is already one livery/training yard who have 12 boxes and 8 arre now empty the others will leave at the end of the year so the owner loses income and their 2 trainees lose their jobs. there is also a very worried man who is likely to have to go bankrupt because his liveries have left and has had a heart attack which although it could have happened anyway the worry will not have helped so please ask anyone you know to sign the petition as they need all the help they can get. you can stay anonymous by ticking the box if you want to
 
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As I am in Germany I might be able to put some light on here:
The first community in Hessen, Germany has decided to introduce a horse tax. It is numbered with 200 Euros per horse per year. This community is the town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf. 8500 people live there and they have a minus of 80 mio Euros. They try to get help from the Hessen county to reduce their minus, but to receive this help they have to build up a catalogue of recommended items to save money and raise income.
They calculate on 150 horses stabled in their community meaning an income of 30,000 Euros per year.
The clue is that the county Hessen lists in its regulations riding as a valuable sport for health and the masses. This is not allowed to be taxed. On the other hand they recommend taxing horses....
Since the first rumours on introducing the horse tax approx. 50% of the horses have gone out of this community and were stabled in other communities. The first stable owners go into bancrupt as they invested into horse stabling and now the customers are moving out.
The second community in Hessen, namely the town of Kirchheim, decided to recommend introducing a horse tax. The final decision on this will be made today.

Besides, the county of Hessen recommends an annual tax of approx. 750 Euros per horse per year. This would definitely mean slaughter for many horses and many more kids on the streets not knowing what to do with their time.

Horse people all over Germany go on the barricades at the moment.
 
many thanks Pendragon its good to hear from someone who knows more about it. if anyone has not signed the petition please do so its only the fields in pink that are compulsory so your name the place you live then street/house number and on the drop down box grossbrittanien. it would be good if they got a lot of support from abroad because it may also make the councils think they could lose out on income from horse people as tourists to the areas.
 
I can't believe it would actually succeed, because it is so un-justifiable.

If horses are to be classed as livestock, then they will also have to tax every cow, sheep, pig etc., and if they are leisure then are we going to have to pay a tax for every game of football, round of golf....?

The bio-security excuse doesn't wash either because all veterinary services are paid for by the consumer at point of use so it's not as though we are getting a service that we are not paying for directly, as we do with road building and the like.
 
LittleBlackMule it has happened this is the problem and its why they need all horse people both in Germany and other countries to get behind them and show support. over there they already pay disease control and nobody complains about that but a local tax on every horse is out of order especially when its only to try and show that they are looking to reduce a deficit. can you imagine what would happen if they decided to tax football? thats a recreation and sport as well......
 
Yes, Crabbymare is right. German horse people need your support. Taxing horses in Germany would have effects all over Europe. Therefore, it would be great, if you sign the petitions. Please note: when signing the petitions you have to state your email address. After signing you will get an email you have to confirm and only then your signature can be counted.

Here is the link to the petition against horse tax in Bad Sooden-Allendorf:
https://www.openpetition.de/petition/zeichnen_formular/pferdesteuer-in-bsa

Here is the link to the petition against horse tax in Kirchheim (they decide on introducing the horse tax tonight):
https://www.openpetition.de/petitio...uehrung-einer-pferdesteuer-in-36275-kirchheim
 
It has been confirmed, Kirchheim is the next community to introduce a horse tax in Germany. Though they have not decided yet on how much they will charge and if all horses will be taxed (e.g. excluding working horses???). Next community to discuss this issue is Hessisch-Lichtenau.
 
This is a bit scary. Never mind a tax on horses we should get tax relief for the amount they cost and the amount of money horsey people put into the economy!
 
@Turitea: ...and the community of Schlangenbad as well discussing on 12 December.

At least there are statements from Lower Saxony and Bavaria that for them the introduction of horse tax is absolute nonsense. I guess Schleswig-Holstein is safe as well.
 
OMG! I guess all courts in Hessen will be very busy from January 2013 onwards....

The petition for Bad Sooden-Allendorf has run out.

Please all: Sign the petition for Kirchheim and share as much as you can. Every signature counts. The petition will run out in 4 days.

https://www.openpetition.de/petitio...uehrung-einer-pferdesteuer-in-36275-kirchheim

Please do not forget to confirm the email you will receive after signing, because your signature will only counted after confirmation.
 
Has H&H reported on this? If not then perhaps they should and highlight the petition, I am sure that it would get a much wider audience and help to get more signatures, this is something that should be stopped before it even gets started!
 
And did I state earlier on that I think Schleswig-Holstein is safe? I have just found out that I am wrong.
The town Preetz has just stated officially on a website that they will start inquiring Bad Sooden-Allendorf on how to introduce a horse tax....

Unbelievable things happen here!!!
 
@Pendragon - thanks for keeping us all up to date on this topic.
I've signed the petition, and sent it to some friends as well.
It affects me personally - as I am due to move from the UK to Hessen in January 2013. Now I know in which communities not to keep my horse...I am also wondering if I should find a stable in a neighbouring county? - like Baden Wuerttemberg for example, or Bavaria.

What a pain, and it is so sad for the stable owners who are going bankrupt because of liveries moving to areas where they are not subject to the horse tax. It's awful for these stable owners. On a lighter note, if I do keep my boy in one of the taxed communities, I could potentially have a lovely big yard to myself, with a choice of boxes :) , and the school will always be available for private use... :p
 
There are other areas now looking at introducing the tax, I know someone who is probably going to the demo next week so have asked to be kept in touch with whats happening. I have emailed H&H about them doing an article on this as I have a horrible feeling that if nobody can come up with a good legal challenge that it could spread beyond Germany :( hopefully they will deem it newsworthy if they dont already know about it
 
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They try to discourage people from driving, yet moan that people are buying eco friendly cars, so not buying petrol or road tax, then they decide to introduce toll roads instead to get revenue..
Bottom line is they want more money from us, so will try to justify why they have to introduce a new tax.. the only way we can avoid this is by not having a car, not drinking, not smoking, not owning horses etc..
Even then, they'd still find a way to screw us :mad:
 
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