Revenue from German dog taxes increased by 2.2% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and increased by 39.3% in the last 10 years – above the level of inflation.
Local municipalities, which determine the levy, brought around € 430 million (about $ 500 million), while in 2014 it was € 309 million. According to the German Government’s Statistics Agency Destatis,
The fees can vary greatly from place to place, and often grow if individuals have many dogs or those who have German officials classified as “attack dogs” – Pitbull, Bull Terriers, Mastiff, or Tosa INS suitable for war or defensive objectives such as warmths.
For example, Berlin does not take any surcharge for the first dog € 120 per year, € 180 for all later dogs and attacker dogs., On the other hand, Munich charges a certain fee of € 100 for all dogs, but the attacker charges a huge fee of € 800 for dogs.,
The idea behind tax is to fund local services such as rescue, and attacker dog surcharge helps limit the number of large dogs in the community.
Destatis also noted that other, more important costs of dog ownership are also growing faster than inflation in recent years.
Not unlike human food, the average cost of dog and kit food in Germany was 2.2% higher than the previous year, and in 2024 was 35.3% higher than 2020.
Destatis said that the total inflation in the same period is 19.3%.