Germany: Number of Registered Dogs and Dog Tax Income Increase

According to Germany’s Federal Office of Statistics, the fiscal revenue municipalities register thanks to the dog tax has increased substantially. More and more Germans seem to want four-legged friends.

Berlin, September 7th, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — There is nothing nicer than having a family member who loves us unconditionally and whom we love a lot as well, right? A friend who wakes us at night by barking, one who sheds like hell and who turns into a problem when we want to travel by plane. A cutie who makes us laugh and move on a regular basis and one we need to clean up after. A buddy who will protect us when necessary.

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Recreational Activities

Germans, and possibily expats living in Germany, own more dogs than they did before the Corona pandemic hit. At least this is what the dog tax income in the country’s municipalities suggests, in combination with other indicators. All in all, they received 401 million Euro (396 million U.S. Dollars or 346 Pounds Sterling) from this source in 2021. This is an increase of 5.4 percent compared to the dog tax income in 2020, and an even higher one since the last decade ended.

Recently, millions worked from home. Because of lockdowns and other anti-Corona measures, they did not have that many opportunities in regard to recreational activities. This seems to be the reason why more and more Germans did something they had wanted to do for a long time, which is getting a doggy. But, as it turns out, the pandemic is not the only reason for the increasing number of dogs people have.

Exotic and Scary

It has been on the rise for about a decade. But Corona made it skyrocket. In 2020 alone, one million pets found new homes in the Federal Republic. This includes puppies, but also cats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, fish and probably snakes, spides as well as other more exotic and scary animals. Of course, the increasing dog tax income alone is not necessarily an indicator for an increasing number of dogs, because those taxes increase over time.

But there are other numbers which point in the same direction, including the revenues Germany’s pet stores report. Last year, they increased by almost 10 percent to 6 billion Euro (5.93 billion Dollars or 5.17 billion Pounds). They must have sold truckloads of dog and cat food, leashes, aquariums and other items. The sky seems to be the limit here. Another indicator is the number of dogs in kennels. Many of them were overburdened this summer. This is the sad part of the story.

Food and Taxes

Feeding dogs does cost money. So do those taxes. They depend on the city or county dog owners live in. In Berlin, 126,300 dogs are registered right now. Their owners pay 120 Euro per year. Each additional dog costs 180 Euro. Pensioners, recipients of social welfare and jobless individuals are exempt. At parks, the authorities are chasing dog owners who have not registered their cuties yet. This is supposed to happen within a month from the moment the new puppy moves in.

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