NH House Bill 427

[jen judkins]

This just boils my blood. On monday, the NH house will be entertaining a bill to TAX horseowners in the state to the tune of 25 bucks per head. They will require licensure (similar to dogs) and require proof of rabies vaccination.

They are saying that this tax will help support the unwanted horses in the state, but 10 of the 25 dollars goes to the general fund.

Why tax responsible horse owners for those who are unresponsible or who cannot ‘dispose’ of their horses legally because of the anti-slaughter act! Its outrageous.

The hearing is on Tuesday, Jan. 27,2009 at 1:45, in room 303 at the NH State House.

Quote:”HB 427 would require all owners of equines older than 4 months to
annually license their animals with the town/city clerk for $25 upon
proof that the animal had been vaccinated for rabies.”

[Robert MoonShadow]

Better fight them now, or it’ll only get worse.

[Iron Rose]

In Minnesota are Governor has been saying that he will not raise taxes yet he has raised the fees on hunting and fishing license,camping fees, and ect some as much as 500%. For instance 5years ago a burning permit was free, now they charge $25. Most of the money goes into the general fund. Finally today someone brought it to public attention. Mainly because of the declining license sales. Just a way of sneak taxation. Same goes for are county goverment raise taxes and then give themselves a raise in pay.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

@Iron Rose 5251 wrote:

In Minnesota are Governor has been saying that he will not raise taxes yet he has raised the fees on hunting and fishing license,camping fees, and ect some as much as 500%. For instance 5years ago a burning permit was free, now they charge $25. Most of the money goes into the general fund. Finally today someone brought it to public attention. Mainly because of the declining license sales. Just a way of sneak taxation. Same goes for are county goverment raise taxes and then give themselves a raise in pay.

Are you sure it was the governor that raised the hunting and fishing license fees? Here in KY, it’s the State Fish and Wildlife board of commissioners that set those fees. Our State F&W is run entirely on the revenue generated from those fees. They receive no general fund money (or so I understand). So if sales go down, they either have to make the decision of closing public areas because they can’t afford to keep them up, or raising user fees (license fees). If people want to keep public lands available for hunting and fishing, they either have to get young people involved, or pony up.

Sorry to get off topic. Jen, good luck fighting that. Hope you get them.

[jen judkins]

Here is a copy of the letter I emailed to the sponsors of this bill here in NH. For anyone in NH, please feel free to share with anyone you think might be able to help prevent this bill from passing. If this bill passes, other states will fall in behind us and NAIS is right there with them.

“I’ve been made aware of this bill to be presented on Tuesday. I have some thoughts about the bill, I’d like you to consider…

1. A tax on horseowners will not reduce the number of unwanted horses in the state, in fact, my prediction based on the current economy and the marginal economic status most horseowners live in constantly, is that abandoned or unwanted animals will increase drastically at least in the short term.

2. Taxing responsible horseowners for unwanted horses is unfair and mis-directed. If you want to crack down on inappropriate breeding, tax those that are breeding horses.

3. The anti-slaughter act has removed a very sustainable way to alleviate the excess of unwanted and sick horses. The truth is, very few people can afford to humanely euthanize, then dispose of an unwanted horse. If there were a humane way to get a horse to slaughter, alot of this pressure to abandon horses would be alleviated. I don’t want to eat horses, but I don’t feel the arrogance to assume that my aged horse couldn’t feed a family somewhere. More energy needs to be directed to improving the transport and protocol for slaughter, not in dictating what constitutes food or taxing people who already bear the burden of handling the eventual death of a trusted friend or farm-worker.

4. This bill stinks of being a precursor to the big NAIS plot to plug all animals into a GPS grid, putting undue stress on small famers and families raising their own food or food for their community. First there is a tax, then a registration, then big government gets to watch where I ride my horse. That’s about as anti-New Hampshire as it gets….’Live free, but big government gets to watch your every move’

5. Requiring Rabies in horses annually. Horses are not high risk carriors of rabies and the increased risk is borne nearly solely by the horseowner, not the general public (unless your horses roam the neighborhood on their own). Moreover, there is no evidence that horses require rabies vaccines yearly to maintain immunity for several years. Its seems incredibly ridiculous to require that a farm horse that never leaves home be required to be annually vaccinated. Even my pro-vaccine vet is opposed to this part of the bill (well she is opposed to all of it, but…) and agrees that vaccination protocols are best decided upon between horse owners and their vets, not the town clerk or state.

6. I can appreciate the need to solve the problem of unwanted horses in this state and others, but I believe the best way to spend our energy is in how to alleviate the difficulties horse owners have in disposal of unwanted horses. I, myself, rescue a horse or two every year and I contribute to local rescues….why should I pay your tax? I’m already doing ‘the right thing’. Truly if I thought your tax had value in relieving horse abuse and neglect in this state, I would be behind it all the way, but you are putting a bandaid on a hemorrhaging wound that will not get better by ignoring the true source of the problem.

Thank you for your consideration.”

[Richard]

Nice job. Very well said.

[chestnutmare]

Jenjudkins, I didn’t realize that this was being posted here so I posted in the horse forum. I guess what is important is that this is brought to the attention of the entire horse community. It is happening in New Hampshire but it could be your own home state. We do need to fight this and defeat it.

Rumor has it that the legislator who initiated this bill, Rep. Skinder has also proposed that fish be renamed “sea kittens” a term that is being popularized by PETA.

Check this out.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/sea_kittens1

It appears that this woman is a PETA advocate and has an agenda.

Sea Kittens, guess she would be in favor of ending all fishing in the state. Along with using animals including horses for pleasure or work.

[Anonymous]

What ever happened to the good old days when we provided the emotionally and mentally disturbed with care in an institutional setting rather than electing them to public office. Years ago here in Taxachusetts the PETA weenies managed to roll several individually ignorant pieces of legislation into what they call an omnibus bill. That’s the legal equivalent of putting a bunch of turds in the same bag. One outlawed the trapping of beavers. Another opened membership on the board that decides where the money from game licensing goes to people who never held a license or permit. The third outlawed the practice of using hunting dogs in the off-season to “hound” or scare away bears. They put on a big public dis-information campaign including pathetic footage of a fox caught in a leg-hold trap that had been illegal for twenty years. Despite being opposed by the Federation of Wildlife Biologists and just about every sane group involved, they managed to find enough morons in Metro-Boston to get it passed. The next year the beaver populaton exploded, wiping out trees that prevented erosion, damming ponds and culverts everywhere, and flooding wells. It just goes to show that a well intentioned idiot is more dangerous than someone who is evil. Voters who are uninformed or misled will gladly support someone who sounds like the mean well.

[OldKat]

@Legio3arty 5443 wrote:

What ever happened to the good old days when we provided the emotionally and mentally disturbed with care in an institutional setting rather than electing them to public office. Years ago here in Taxachusetts the PETA weenies managed to roll several individually ignorant pieces of legislation into what they call an omnibus bill. That’s the legal equivalent of putting a bunch of turds in the same bag. One outlawed the trapping of beavers. Another opened membership on the board that decides where the money from game licensing goes to people who never held a license or permit. The third outlawed the practice of using hunting dogs in the off-season to “hound” or scare away bears. They put on a big public dis-information campaign including pathetic footage of a fox caught in a leg-hold trap that had been illegal for twenty years. Despite being opposed by the Federation of Wildlife Biologists and just about every sane group involved, they managed to find enough morons in Metro-Boston to get it passed. The next year the beaver populaton exploded, wiping out trees that prevented erosion, damming ponds and culverts everywhere, and flooding wells. It just goes to show that a well intentioned idiot is more dangerous than someone who is evil. Voters who are uninformed or misled will gladly support someone who sounds like the mean well.

What he said about the beavers is true. I was in Mass. about 3 years ago on company business, for the company I used to work for. I was amazed to see bogs everywhere and when I said that I didn’t remember seeing them on previous visits the answer I got was exactly what he said about the law being changed to outlaw trapping them. I know from personal experience they can become a nuisance very quickly.

As to the license, fee or whatever …Yep just another sneaky tax. I’ve heard the same thing is being considerd at the federal level for cattle. $82.50 per head, annually to offset the methane produced by catlle. Not that it would cause the cows to produce less methane, but it is slick way for the money grubbers in D.C. to get deeper in your pocket. Hopefully this is just a crazy rumor, but owing to the bunch of inmates that are running the asylum up there it would not surprise me a bit.

Good luck in your efforts to get this nonsense knocked down in N.H.

[dominiquer60]

The “cow tax” is a proposal to propose a bill, just something that the EPA threw out there for discussion. Of course the media and Farm Bureau have hyped it up to be more a more advanced thought, it looks like something that will not actually be proposed anytime soon. I am sure that Farm Bureau will notch is up as a bill defeated even though it was just a pre-proposal, just something to give themselves a pat on the back for.

[Author]

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