Albany Eyes a New Tax — on Pets

ALBANY — Despite ending the year with a $1.5 billion surplus, Albany is considering what could come to be known as the Paw and Claw Tax, a 3% sales tax on pet food and pet supplies.

Under a bill introduced by a Republican senator from New York City this week, pet owners would pay a little more for milk bones, squeaky toys, hamster wheels, catnip, birdbaths, and other supplies for their loyal companions. Owners of ferrets and potbellied pigs should not be concerned; the statewide tax would be slapped on wholesale products for the following animals: dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, and caged birds.

New Yorkers already pay the highest taxes in the nation, so it's not surprising that someone in Albany would suggest that pets shoulder some of the burden. The author of the bill, however, says the tax is aimed at helping pets. The legislation requires that the extra revenue go toward financing animal shelters and wild life rehabilitators.

"When people realize the money is going to shelters, they will understand it's for a worthwhile cause," the bill's sponsor, Senator Frank Padavan, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Mr. Padavan said the tax would save the lives of many unwanted pets by providing cash-strapped shelters with the money to house, feed, and give medical attention to more animals for longer periods of time.

With a larger budget, shelters would have more success in finding permanent homes for the animals and therefore wouldn't have to resort to euthanasia as often, according to the legal counsel for the Humane Society of New York, Elinor Molbegott. "They just need some loving attention, and that takes money," she said.

As many as 30,000 pets are put to sleep in New York City animal shelters a year, she said. New York City shelters currently receive public money out of the city's budget and revenue from dog licensing fees.

Mr. Padavan, a longtime senator of Queens who speaks in hushed tones, is known as the animal protector of the Legislature. This year, he has also introduced a bill that would ban the electrocution of fur-bearing animals and one that would prohibit canned hunts.

The senator said his last pet was a basset hound named Fred, a gift of his daughter's former boyfriend who couldn't keep him. Fred passed away several years ago. Mr. Padavan said he was reluctant to replace the dog with another pet because his job in Albany keeps him away from home for too many days each week.

His bill has a tough road ahead. It's not that Albany leaders don't like animals. The Republican Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, owns a dog and cats. Governor Spitzer, who has vowed not to raise taxes as governor, has two fluffy dogs — a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named James and a Bichon Frise named Jesse.

Both leaders, however, are on the record opposing new tax hikes. A spokesman for the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, who has taken no such anti-tax vow, did not return calls for comment.

The "Paw and Claw Tax" is among hundreds of bills introduced by lawmakers during their first week back in Albany since they returned from their post-budget holiday break.

Another new bill that popped up this week would make sweet corn the state vegetable. The author of the bill, Bob Oaks, a Republican assemblyman who represents a district along the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario, said the proposed legislation was the idea of high school students taking a government class at a school in Port Byron.

"Sweet corn is one of those things people look forward to every year," he said. If passed, sweet corn would join the ranks of the apple — the state fruit — and milk — the state drink — as official New York food staples. Last year, as the New York Times reported, Albany made the pink spotted ladybug the state insect, the snapping turtle the official reptile, and the striped bass New York's saltwater fish.

Technically, corn is classified as a grain — a potential complication that Mr. Oaks dismissed. "I take it as a vegetable," Mr. Oaks said. "That would not be a problem."

He said lawmakers could pass another bill classifying corn as a vegetable in the unlikely event that the bill ran into legal problems.