Dog tax: What to do with high rates?

Questioner

I pay dog ​​tax for my dog ​​every year. Now I have had a second dog for 2 weeks and have to pay tax for that too. Only 1 dog costs 59.88 euros per year and for the second dog I have to pay 109.76 euros! For the second dog I have to pay almost double. If I had 3 dogs, I would have to pay 159.64 euros for the third dog! So I have 2 dogs, but have to pay for almost 3 dogs. This is to discourage the dog policy... Can a municipality just do this? Also because in certain municipalities nothing has to be paid for dogs. And people with cats don't have to pay anything!

Lawyer

According to HoF Den Bosch, the levying of dog tax must be directly related to the costs that the municipality has for the dog ownership of its citizens. For that reason, it seems to me that the levying of more tax for a second and third dog to discourage ownership goes beyond the authority of the municipality to levy tax, read more here http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog tax

Lawyer

The ruling of the Court of 's-Hertogenbosch was already quashed by the Supreme Court in October 2013 (ECLI:NL:HR:2013:917, http://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie/Hoge-Raad/Nieuws/Pages/Gemeentemaghondenbelastinghef. aspx). Article 226 of the Municipal Act gives municipalities the authority to levy dog ​​tax. The amount of this tax and what it is spent on is up to the municipalities themselves to decide; the law does not say anything about this. I remember that after the Supreme Court ruling there were voices to go to the European Court (this was also discussed in Germany). However, I do not know what the status of this action is. So unfortunately, for the time being you must pay the assessed dog tax.