Reuters: Oddly Enough: Italy "dog and cat tax" muzzled after uproar

Reuters: Oddly Enough Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Italy "dog and cat tax" muzzled after uproar May 18th 2012, 19:23 Tweet Share this Email Print Analysis & Opinion Essential reading: Tax tension in Washington, and more Essential reading: HP loses Dutch tax shelter case, popular deductions on the block, and more A dog sits on a sun chair at a beach for dogs on the Tiber river in Rome August 19, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Chris Helgren ROME | Fri May 18, 2012 3:23pm EDT ROME (Reuters) - A proposal to levy a tax on cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public. Italy was abuzz for hours after local media reported that a parliamentary commission had proposed a tax on domestic "animals of affection" to raise revenue for debt-strapped cities and towns. Protests were voiced by everyone from animal rights groups - who said it would prompt more people to abandon animals - to politicians who called it everything from "grotesque" to "surreal" to "idiotic" to "shameful". There was so much reaction - all of it incredulous - that one Italian agency ran nearly 40 news items on the proposal in less than four hours. The proposal was withdrawn by early Friday evening however, and it seemed everyone on the commission where it was discussed was denying its paternity. "The only thing that's left to tax are wives and children," said parliamentarian Domenico Scilipoti. Italy, like many other countries across the euro zone, is struggling to revive its economy and reduce its public debt, a predicament that has prompted the country's lawmakers to try to dream up new revenue-raising measures. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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