Arnie wants to tax medical care for your pets....

[unapatriciated]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100539251

Morning Edition, February 11, 2009 · In trying to close a $41 billion budget gap, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to tax a number of services — including veterinary care. The idea has both pet owners and veterinarians up in arms.

Many fear the proposed 9 percent tax will put a financial strain on pet owners and result in more animals being abandoned or euthanized.

At the Holiday Humane veterinary clinic in Los Angeles, it's standing room only — every seat is full. Most people are holding small dogs and cats in their arms, others with cardboard boxes between their feet. A few larger dogs are hunkered down on the linoleum floor.

"Our average waits went from a half hour to two hours," says Christinia Paris, who works the front desk of this low-cost, nonprofit clinic. She says that in the past few months, people have been bringing in their pets from as far as two hours away.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't have a patient walk up to me and say, 'I lost my job today.' If they were to have to take to another place, they would just put them down..........

The California Department of Finance is not attempting to single out any one service, according to spokesman H.D. Palmer. He points out that the proposed tax also would extend to auto and appliance repair, golf fees, sporting events and amusement parks such as Disneyland and Knots Berry Farm.


I know the law views pets as property, but this tax would only inflict more pain on the poor and working class.
Pets are more than property they are part of the family and should not be viewed the same as a trip to an amusement park or a round of golf.

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Arnie - your ideas are going nowhere. It's best if you resign immediately

and go back to Austria and stay there for the rest of your life. Divorce Maria, and leave her all the money she can have.

Hawkeye-X

[EFerrari]

2. In 2004, he wanted to put down shelter animals after 24 hours, too.

I bet he tortures insects.

[robinlynne]

6. I remember that!

[EFerrari]

7. Our vets are barely making it as it is.

I hate this guy. :grr:

[robinlynne]

15. and all the rest of them too.

(sounds kind of like the wicked witch of the west....)

[Thickasabrick]

13. I'm really starting to think he's a closet nazi nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. He is going to raise all kinds for taxes now, all and more that Grey Davis

was kicked out for proposing years ago. Arnold was a big ass fraud who could only "lead" when there was nothing to do.

[robinlynne]

4. disgusting idea. Tax the rich for god sakes! This will absolutely mean more euthanized animals,

and more homes broken apart because ti is already so difficult to afford care for animals!

This is all so simple. Create a sepical tax for anyone who has more than 2 million dollars. and a very special tax for oil companies.
problem solved.

or even more simple even: cancel the bush tax cuts and audit the pentagon . I know that is federal, not state, but it is plenty of money.

[tridim]

5. How about taxing California's number one cash crop?

It's such a no-brainer.

[DBoon]

8. How could you tax air-headedness?

nt

[unapatriciated]

10. you have to stop the feds from raiding first.....

than maybe he can tax the sick and disabled, he sure as hell doesn't want to give them a cost of living raise.


edit to add:
"We have to close a $41 billion budget gap, and that by definition is going to mean difficult decisions, whether it's taking days off of the school year, whether it's not giving a cost-of-living increase to those who are aged, blind and disabled, or whether it's increasing the sales tax on services such as veterinarian services or auto repair," Palmer says.

[wroberts189]

9. But he said all this would be fixed on the tonight show .....

before he was "elected"


So they recalled the existing Gov. and now its much worse.


I bet there is not a single person on DU that did not see this coming.

[unapatriciated]

17. I was in the minority and voted against the recall...

I'm still waiting for Jeb bush's friend Donna Arduin to find all that missing money. Remember the infamous audit that would find the waste and fix the budget?

I moved from ca three years ago but have a disabled son that lives in bay area so am still interested in ca politics.

[walkaway]

11. Arnie has had a good long life.

Maybe having him put to sleep humanely would be the right thing to do. Maria better decide now before they start to add sales tax.

[tbyg52]

12. >>I know the law views pets as property

To quote, IIRC, Dickens - The law is an ass.

[unapatriciated]

14. I agree with Dickens.

and may I add Arnie to that.

These two are not property but they totally own us.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7A4NqFBwsk

[NV Whino]

16. Arnie, really...

pull your head out of your ass.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. He's a shining example of GOP leadership. n/t

[Booster]

19. My best friend's chow-mix jumps around excitedly when she

comes home from work and one day the dog hurt her hip somehow. After many trips to the vet, they operated on the hip which cost close to $5000. The vet told my friend it would probably happen to the other hip. My friend is past the age of retiring, but because of this problem (and others) has decided that she'll have to work til she's 70. This is another bad idea from Arnold.

[Luminous Animal]

20. This will be a nightmare...

and the start of the expansion to all services. For what it is worth, I think sales taxes are a piss poor way to fund state and city governments. They are notoriously regressive and expanding them to services is just another way to put even more of a burden on the poor, working class who already pay a higher tax rate than the rich.

Given that sales that are delivered over the internet are exempt from sales tax and with the expansion of technology that allows huge files to be transfered via the internet, a lot of sales taxes that corporations used to pay for such things as graphic design and photography (and anything else that can be delivered via the internet)are now no longer being collected. Now, it appears that the state is looking to make up for those losses through individuals.


This is a tax hike. There is no two ways about it.