From fines to wines, businesses fighting proposed state taxes (sales tax on vet services)

[The Straight Story]

From fines to wines, businesses fighting proposed state taxes


SACRAMENTO —Animal lovers are decrying "the Fido fine." Vintners are warning wine lovers that the price of a bottle could rise. And golf course owners are taking to the Web to drive home to duffers that new taxes on greens fees could hit them.

A number of California industries are conducting aggressive lobbying and public relations campaigns to dissuade the California Legislature from adopting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to raise or impose new taxes on their businesses.

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The California Veterinary Medical Association has been equally passionate in assailing Schwarzenegger's proposal to impose a sales tax on vet services. "It's not right for our beloved pets to suffer because of the state's financial problems," according to a fact sheet on the association's Web site.

A tax that would liken vet services to "appliance and furniture repair," the site says, is "an insult."

The Humane Society of the United States — fresh from its victorious Proposition 2 campaign last November that gave egg-laying chickens more room to roam — has pounced on the "Fido fine."

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_11660966