The dog tax debate has been raging for years. Fewer and fewer municipalities levy this tax. Geldrop-Mierlo is one of the municipalities where the bark tax still applies. Hans van Lierop goes door to door to check whether every dog owner pays faithfully.
“Hello, I have come to check on the dog tax on behalf of the municipality. Do you have a dog?” it sounds when Hans is at the door. If he has already seen the dog, he first checks in the system whether the four-legged friend is registered. “If that is not the case, I always say carefully: I see that you has a dog, but it is not in the system. Could it be that you forgot to register it?”
“If it turns out that the guest dog is always there, they will still receive an attack.”
According to Hans, most people are then not aware of any harm. He also believes in the goodness of man. “Some explain that they just moved and that they thought the municipality would overwrite it. Logical, I can imagine that you don’t immediately find out when you move to a new municipality.”
And what if people say they have a guest dog? “That’s allowed,” says Hans. “But then we want to know who owns the dog. That address will then receive the code L and then we will come and have a look again in a few weeks. If after a few checks it turns out that the dog is always there, it is no longer a guest and they will still receive an attack.
“You have to be able to deal with people in this work.”
Although taxes have to be paid for the dog in fewer and fewer municipalities, Hans notices little resistance from the people. “I’ve been doing this for fifteen years and nothing ever happens. I’ve never been hit,” laughs Hans.
“Of course there is someone with a short fuse. Last week a man got angry when I said he had not reported his dog. But you have to be able to deal with people in this work. I always remain very friendly .”
Geldrop-Mierlo is one of the 21 municipalities in Brabant where the bark tax is still collected. In 35 municipalities in our province, dog owners do not pay the tax. Tilburg takes the cake in terms of the amount of the load. There you pay 113.19 euros if you have one dog as the owner. While in Zundert this amount is the lowest at 32.53 euros.
The four most expensive municipalities:
- Tilburg: 113.19 euros
- Den Bosch: 88.92 euros
- Veldhoven: 83.24 euros
- Eindhoven: 82.00 euros
Check the map to see if dog tax is still levied in your municipality, and if so, how much
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More and more municipalities are abolishing the dog tax. Ten years ago, seven out of ten municipalities in the Netherlands had this tax. In 2022, this will be less than half for the first time. This is evident from figures from the COELO, research institute of the University of Groningen.
It is striking that in the north of the country dog owners often do not pay tax for their dog, while in the provinces of Zeeland, Utrecht, Limburg and Gelderland many municipalities do levy the tax.
The proceeds from the dog tax do not have to be used for dog facilities such as walking fields, free dog poop bags or trash cans. That is a major reason why people are calling for abolition. Opponents also see the bark tax as discrimination: why don’t owners of cats, for example, have to pay anything?
Last year, the House of Representatives debated the abolition of the dog tax. This in response to the citizen initiative Stop the dog tax. After a motion was submitted, the House of Representatives asked the cabinet to investigate.
That study showed that the municipalities that still collect the dog tax desperately need that income. That is why Minister Ollongren does not want to abolish the dog tax for the entire country.