Well-traveled pets already get their own passports. Now, in an age of overtourism — where visitors are sometimes charged fees to counter their impact on inundated communities — there’s inevitably a tourist tax on dogs.
Starting in 2026, owners of dogs visiting the northern Italian city of Bolzano will be hounded for a daily tax of 1.50 euros, just under $2, part of a wider and controversial clampdown on canines in the pristine destination, a gateway to the Dolomite mountains.
They won’t be the only ones. Local owners are being asked to pay an annual tax of 100 euros per dog.
The initiative is meant to offset the cost of street cleaning and to fund new parks designed exclusively for dogs and their owners. It remains unclear, however, whether rumors that dogs will be barred from regular city parks will prove true.
The tax comes on the heels of another contentious measure: requiring owners to pay to have their dogs’ DNA registered so that uncollected droppings can be matched to the culprit and fines issued. Dog owners who fail to pick up after their pets currently face penalties of up to 600 euros per violation.
Provincial Councilor Luis Walcher, who introduced the measure, said that those who have already complied with the DNA registry will be exempt from the new levy for two years.
Credit: cnn.com
