FWD: Kibble tax proposed to pay for Spay and Neuter

[Guest guest]

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 08:27:32 EDT

by20hounds

N.C. House committee agrees to reforms with pet food tax

 

In what could be called a first strike in the war on pet overpopulation and

slaughter in the shelters of North Carolina the house committee agreed to

reforms which would create an innovative new spay/neuter fund financed by a

tax on

pet food sold throughout the state.

 

Dubbed " The Pet Food Tax " the fund sets out bold new directives that

ultimately could lead to the funding of over 100,000 spay/neuter surgery's

for pet

owners throughout the state. The expected cost to the average pet owner

will be

less than $2 per year for each pet in the household.

 

North Carolina, like many of the states in the South, has long had a pet

overpopulation issue with over 250,000 dogs and cats being killed each year

in the

state's shelters - a number twice the national average.

 

While it's easy to talk about reform, it's easy to talk about not punishing

the responsible pet owner, the truth is the average pet owner isn't the one

who

suffers with the present system of complacent political laws that support

irresponsible pet ownership - the ones who ultimately suffer are the over

250,000

homeless pets who pay for this lack of responsibility with their lives.

 

At a cost of less than a quarter each month no one will be seriously

impacted

by the new tax being proposed and yet just possibly in the not too distant

future the citizens of North carolina will be able to look back and see the

true

impact of this bill.

 

The bill now moves on to the house where it will go before the state's

agriculture committee before final passage. Please take the time to let

your

elected officials know that you support the plan as a powerful tool towards

reducing

the state's dependency on building larger shelters to simply keep up with

demand for killing more homeless dogs and cats simply because no one offers

a

better solution.

 

Spay/neutering of the family pet is the solution for fighting the war on pet

overpopulation in our community's. It's a war we have to win.

 

 

N.C. House committee agrees to reforms with pet food tax

04/22/2004

 

By GARY D. ROBERTSON / Associated Press

North Carolina pet lovers would pay more for kibble to help finance shelter

renovations and cat and dog sterilizations in a bill approved Thursday by a

House commission working to reduce animal neglect.

 

While the measure also gives more powers to the state Agriculture Department

to regulate all kinds of pet facilities, the tax got the most attention as

the

committee ended nine months of work.

 

The so-called " Puppy Chow penalty " adds 10 cents to the price of each

20-pound bag of food and about 2 cents to every can. The assessment on the

pet food

makers, which will be passed on to consumers, could generate $8 million

annually.

 

The tax is a lot less than the cost of holding an ever-growing number of

unwanted animals and ultimately put them to death, one commission member

said.

 

Local animal control officers euthanized 265,289 cats and dogs in 2002, and

North Carolina's euthanasia rate is more than twice the national average.

 

" To me, it's a no-brainer, " said Mort Congleton with the Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Wake County. " I don't want to pay the

additional taxes but we're paying for it already. If we don't do anything

now, it's

just going to be a continuing burden on the taxpayer. "

 

Hunters who raise dogs and the pet food industry continued to balk at the

increase. They questioned a projection released Thursday that the tax would

likely cost consumers less than $2 per year per animal.

 

" The figures that they have been quoting are pie in the sky, " said Stephen

Payne with the Pet Food Institute, which represents most major pet food

manufacturers.

 

Payne said the administrative costs for the pet food makers to collect the

assessments could be several times the tax amount - an argument that at

least

one commission member said wasn't true.

 

A standing-room only crowd of 300 people and a uniformed security guard

jammed into the same committee room three weeks ago during a public comment

period.

About half that number attended a subdued final meeting of the House Interim

Committee on the Prevention and Disposition of Unwanted and Abandoned

Companion Animals.

 

The additional tax money would go into a new Agriculture Department fund

that

counties and cities could seek to pay for low-cost sterilization programs or

for shelter renovations.

 

After complaints at the earlier meeting, the final bill pulled a requirement

that local governments could receive grants as long as they charged at least

twice as much for licensing fees for animals that haven't been sterilized.

 

The bill also gives the state Agriculture Department authority to regulate

county and municipal animal shelters. It now regulates only shelters

operated by

private, nonprofit groups.

 

The agency would set rules for animal euthanasia that shelters would have to

follow, but the rules would have to allow death by carbon monoxide

poisoning.

 

Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance, who voted against the bill, received applause

when he suggested that gas euthanasia be outlawed. The committee retained it

after a member suggested that counties that depend on gas may oppose the

bill

altogether if it were banned.

 

Many animal advocacy groups, including the Humane Society of the United

States, support injection for euthanasia.

 

The measure now goes to the state House, where the agriculture and finance

committees are likely to debate it when the General Assembly reconvenes next

month.

 

Opposition is likely to mount. Even the commission's co-chairman, Rep. Dewey

Hill, said he doesn't like the tax. Hill, D-Columbus, also is a top leader

of

the Agriculture Committee.

 

And the North Carolina Sporting Dog Association, which opposes the tax, has

hired a lobbyist.

 

Co-Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, who helped create the panel, said

there's still plenty of time to tinker with the bill to allay concerns of

hunters.

 

" We're still willing to listen, " Black said.

 

Commission members stood behind their nine months of work.

 

" North Carolina is a humane state, " said member Mary Jo Morris. " If the

hunters of North Carolina have as much love for their dogs as they do for

their

sport, they will support the legislation as it stands. "

 

http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/A.../D8243QQ02.html