Ministers are under pressure to reconsider controversial plans to introduce a new tax on horse owners after over 10,000 people signed a petition opposing the move.

Even before the Government’s draft Animal Health Bill was published yesterday afternoon, it had drawn criticism from the horse sector unhappy that the Government is pressing ahead with the plans despite overwhelming opposition from horse owners.

Campaigners have been logging on to the 10 Downing Street website since September to have their say on the proposals, which would see every horse owner in the country hit with a ‘tax in all but name’ on each of their animals to help pay for a new Government agency to oversee animal health.

Yet despite Minister for the Horse Jim Fitzpatrick telling MPs last week that the Government is “keen for there to be as much scrutiny as possible”, the publication of the Bill comes well before a cross-sector Advisory Group set up to examine the proposals has had a chance to have its say.

Horse owners have been highly critical of the plans since they were published last year, with many angry that the proposed new system of charges would place a heavy burden on the horse sector without offering any clear benefits to riders, breeders and trainers in return.

Critics have also pointed to the poor value for money which taxpayers would receive from such a move, arguing that any new body would spend much of its time collecting charges from people who own just a single horse; a group who make up 65% of all owners.

With the administrative cost of collecting the charge almost outweighing the charge itself in these cases, an estimated £2.3m would need to be spent to collect just £4.5m, says Rethink the Horse Tax, the campaign behind the petition.

Veterinarians, too, have warned that creating a new layer of bureaucracy will complicate the process of responding to animal disease outbreaks.

Welfare groups have also joined animal keepers and vets in expressing opposition to the plans, as they artificially separate animal health and welfare.

A spokesperson for the British Horse Industry Confederation, Tim Morris, said:

“The horse sector has said it will work with the government to achieve the benefits of reduced risk of disease and enhanced animal welfare. But all we are seeing the extra cost and complexity of an expensive new quango, which will be an unnecessary burden to both the taxpayer and horse owner, with none of these benefits.”

“We have been assured by the Ministers that the contents of the Bill are still wide open to debate, but publishing a draft Bill without saying what it will cost and with no visible benefits make this a very hard sell to horse owners.”

“The Government need only look at the response that this petition, even before horse owner saw the details, to see that there is a great deal of opposition to this Bill. The Bill in its current form is expensive and unworkable and we urge the Government to now wait until its own Advisory Group has fully considered and costed these proposals.”

A copy of the Draft Animal Health Bill can be downloaded from the DEFRA website: www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/animalhealth/sharing/ahbill/index.htm

Further information is also available from:
www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/animalhealth/sharing/index.htm

A press release announcing the publication of the Government’s Draft Animal Health Bill:
www.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/100125a.htm

Under the plans, horse owners will be asked to pay an estimated charge of 10.50 per horse. However, if the Government decides to keep the contribution of the horse sector at 20 per cent as outlined in its initial Impact Assessment (see above), and if additional collection/registration costs were included, the levy could end up being much higher. The horse industry has calculated that it could be up to £125 per horse.

RETHINK THE HORSE TAX CAMPAIGN

Rethink the Horse Tax is a not-for-profit campaign led by a coalition of organisations representing all parts of the UK horse industry, encompassing horseracing, leisure riding, competitive sport, professional breeding and veterinarians. Organisations behind the campaign include:

• · The British Horseracing Authority (BHA)
• · The British Equestrian Federation (BEF)
• · The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA)
• · The British Horse Society (BHS)
• · The British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA)
• · The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA)
• · The National Trainers Federation (NTF)
• · The Racecourse Owners Association (ROA)

For further information on the campaign please see: www.RethinktheHorseTax.org

The Rethink the Horse Tax petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Horse-Rethink/

The petition opened on 11th September 2009 and will run to 11th September 2010. It is currently the 15th most popular on the 10 Downing Street website, out of a total of 4,766.