Dog owners should be taxed to help dampen urbanites' enthusiasm
in raising the pets as the fear of rabies is rising with an
increasing number of pet dogs in cities, a Chinese lawmaker said on
Monday.
China needs a law to regulate pet dog raising and balance the
interests between dog owners and those who do not raise the pets,
as the increasing dog population is making more troubles to
society, said Jiang Deming, a deputy to the National People's
Congress (NPC), on the sidelines of the top legislature's annual
session.
Dog owners should pay tax to share the cost in city management
incurred by their pets, such as dog dung collecting, the lawmaker
from eastern Jiangsu Province said, adding he has submitted
a proposal on enacting such a law.
The rising number of dog pets has led to the increase of rabies
cases in cities, and the revenue from dog ownership taxation can be
exclusively used for rabies prevention and urban sanitation, said
Jiang, who admits his proposal on dog ownership taxation might be
attacked by dog owners.
Taxation can also help discourage low-income people, especially
those subsidized by governments, to raise dogs, said Jiang.
In addition to taxation, dangerous or large dogs should be
banned in populous urban areas, Jiang said.
Rabies, often spread by dogs, attacks the nervous system and is
fatal to humans if not treated prior to the onset of symptoms. With
a death rate of about 84 percent, rabies continued to be the most
deadly infectious disease in China.
Rabies killed more than 2,000 people across the country in 2006,
according to media reports.
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2007)