City Council Passes 'Dog Tax'

Looks like even Fido isn't safe from the rising cost of living in New York City.

The City Council voted 44-7 on Tuesday to raise the licensing fee for non- spayed or neutered dogs from $11.50 to $34.

Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, was one of only a handful who voted against a fee increase he called a "dog owner tax." 

“I’m amazed by the amount of ways our city can find to tax its citizens,” Halloran said.  “New York City residents already pay the highest taxes in the country. Now, you literally have to pay a higher tax for owning an animal.”

However, backers of the measure touted the fee increase as a way to help control the city's animal population, with the added $22.50 going to efforts to promote the spaying and neutering of pets, according to the office of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, D-Manhattan.

At , licensed veterinary technician Rebekah K. said that most dog owners patronizing the clinic have already spayed and neutered their dogs and thus would not be subject to the licensing fee increase.

"I do think that the general population would support the idea of paying a bit more, because it's about responsible pet ownership," she said. 

Halloran said the new fees might discourage potential pet owners from adopting "unaltered" dogs from the city's pounds and animal shelters.

"This will mean more animals forced to stay in shelters for longer periods of time, and potentially more animals that will be put down in our shelters," he said.

Halloran said his family has owned and bred Great Danes for a generation. Last December, the Whitestone lawmaker brought one of his dogs, Esme, to the grand opening of a in Little Bay Park near Fort Totten.

Walking a Yorkshire Terrier outside the Animal Hospital in Little Neck this afternoon, another vet tech, Joseph Martinez, expressed surprise about the fee increase.

"First it was the fee for licensing your car," Martinez said. "Now it's the dogs."