Tax relief for pet owners

[LassinSurrey]

Many pet owners are struggling with the increasing costs of pet food and vets bill. The physical and mental benefits of pet ownership for adults and children are well documented.

Many pet owners are resorting to abandoning their beloved pets. It is not fair.

Please join us to ask government to provide tax relief for pet owners.

Thank you

www.change.org/taxreliefforpetowners

They have to do that though to keep going. Some of those rescues do amazing things. Some of the ones I follow ask for a £1 donation, which if everyone donated would help massively. They've vet bills running well into the thousands. I really admire what they do. I have three rescue cats myself and they're not cheap to keep!

I don't agree with tax relief for pets. I think it's a foolish idea. I certainly wouldn't want to be subsidising people who neglect or are cruel to their pets, and we all know these people sadly exist! I chose to have my cats and am happy to pay for their needs, and they're all insured too.

I would rather support the opposite in making pet ownership more difficult, the majority of owners shouldn’t have them

@LassinSurrey Not sure what is meant by tax relief in the petition wording.

However, I would definitely agree with campaigning for pet food to be zero rated for VAT, - that would be a much clearer thing to aim for.

I also agree that dogs and cats can help hugely with mental health and for many (particularly elderly) people they are a lifeline, not a 'luxury' or 'lifestyle choice' as so many PPs seem to think. The lack of empathy is quite worrying, actually.

I would be absolutely devastated, even suicidal, if I were forced to give up my cat because I couldn't afford to feed him.

What is unfair op, is people being unable to pay to feed their children and themselves ; or people being unable to heat their homes Or get their teeth fixed.

I have 2 dogs whom I absolutely adore. But they are my indulgence and I pay for that. As I should.

Another. No to your thread.

Shockingly 1,326 people think this is a priority campaign 🤷‍♂️

I don't agree. Most people love their pets dearly and care for them very well. It's a minority who don't.

No, batshit idea.

id like to see more oversight on vet fees & animal medication.

Batshit. I’ve got pets and children. I don’t deserve any tax relief for either. I chose to buy pets and I chose to breed

It's not a pity competition.

For many people, including myself, a dog or cat isn't an 'indulgence'. Nor a lifestyle choice. I live alone and have no family, many of my friends are dead. My cat is my constant and loving companion. I'd starve before I'd let him starve.

No.

Absolutely not. I have 3 dogs so would benefit greatly. But no. This is ridiculous

There are people who had children before the credit crunch or before their circumstances changes who are reliant on food banks.
Some food banks provide pet food and the odds provided vet help for people who cannot afford their pets.
You have my sympathies but I prefer my tax to be distributed among people as if services that help people and the environment. Other people's pets do neither.

And those children will grow up to be taxpayers themselves.

Not so much with Fido.

My cat, my choice, my responsibility

Sounds like the [urban myth?] going around back in the the 1990's that ''Bus dweller'' people on the dole had so many dogs because the dole paid £7 a week for each dog.

{Back then £7 kept a dog in good food for a week}
I'm sure the dole don't /didn't give an allowance for dogs.

Absolutely not, as an owner of a number of very expensive pets.

Ludicrous idea sorry op
I chose to have a dog and understood with that the associated costs - my choice my costs

Might also go some way to paying for the environmental impact of pet ownership as well.

What a ridiculous idea

Its hot out. Seems to be having all kinds of odd effects on people.

No, and I say that as a pet owner.

It's my choice to have a dog, and my responsibility to fund it.

There are hundreds of other things I would rather fund than subsiding pet ownership.

Wtaf no. I'm a pet owner but that takes some audacity

Ahaha. As a slave to two cats, that is the most ridiculous thing I've read today.

The answer to the problem is fostering. Not subsidising pet ownership.

You have the benefits of a pet but the financial aspect - vet, food etc - are covered by the charity who places the animal.

Giving an animal in need a brighter future is also likely to help one’s mental health - increased self worth, increased confidence, increased activity/exercise, increased social interaction and companionship from the animal itself.

For those that are feeling the pinch and have already committed to pets: the answer is payment plans and making other sacrifices.

From my experience those that give up animals mostly should never have had them. There are exceptions. But not many.

One only has to look at the dog board on here to confirm this. People who don’t train them, don’t expect any mess or disruption and don’t meet their basic needs. Then they complain they want rid of the nuisance. Awful and regular.

@Gribbit987 and yet apparently it’s a minority who don’t care for their dogs properly, that’s not my experience over the last few years it’s very much a minority that are now responsible owners