Petition opposing the new tax

Written by Administrator | 04 June 2010

 Ten thousand Brits signed a petition opposing the new tax levied on horse owners. Even before the draft of the Government's Animal Health Bill was made public, it had aroused criticism from the equestrian sector who is unhappy with the Government's decision amidst overwhelming protests.

Since September of last year, horse owners have been voicing out their opposition on the website of 10 Downing Street against the Government's proposals which in effect, would require a "tax in all but the horse's name", which will go for the payment of a newly formed Government sector to look after animal health.

The Government needs to be keen in scrutinizing, says Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister for the Horses. But despite that, horse owners are upset with these plans because the new system of fees appears to be one sided, placing a burden of payment on the horse sector but no clear benefits to breeders, riders and trainers. Critics also argue that the cost of collecting the charges from people who own only one horse (comprising 65% of all horse owners) outweigh the charge itself. It was estimated by Rethink the Horse Tax, the body behind the petition, that collecting just £4.5 million fees will entail £2.3 million in administrative expenses.

Veterinarians also raised a warning that adding another level of bureaucracy will only complicate and delay the process of catering to animal disease outbreaks. The vets, animal keepers and welfare groups have all joined hands in opposing the plans.

Spokesperson Tim Morris of the British Horse Industry Confederation expressed that the Bill in its present state is costly and not workable and urged the authorities to wait until the Advisory Group has made a thorough study of the proposals. He further said that although the Ministers gave assurance to the horse sector that the contents of the Bill is still debatable, but by simply publishing it without clearly outlining the costs and benefits make it even harder to sell to horse owners. According to Morris the horse sector has been sharing with Defra the responsibility and costs for animal diseases but was only informed of these radical system changes less than a year before, further stating that the tax is only an unnecessary burden on the part of the taxpayer and the horse owner, but no benefits at all.