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Swiss Village Insists Law That Allows for Killing of Dogs for Unpaid Tax ‘Isn’t About a Mass Execution of Dogs’

Someone call the State Department and cut off all ties with the Toblerone cobblers until this get rectified.

Reconvilier — population 2,245 humans, 280 dogs — plans to put fido on notice if its owner doesn’t pay the annual $50 tax. Local official Pierre-Alain Nemitz says the move is part of an effort to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

Why, you ask? Apparently because the town had exhausted all other possible methods of collection back before World War I and there’s no point in trying anything else.

He says a law from 1904 allows the village to kill dogs if its owner does not pay the canine charge. Nemitz told the AP on Monday that authorities have received death threats since news of the plan got out. “This isn’t about a mass execution of dogs,” Nemitz said. “It’s meant to put pressure on people who don’t cooperate.”

Swiss village: pay your dog tax or fido gets it [MSNBC]