In Italy there are more veterinarians than paediatricians
Pope Francis' words about animals and children have caused vets to rise up. The controversies and a proposal. Gianluca Zappa's speech
Speaking on the topic of the demographic winter, Pope Francis, receiving the members of the Association of Italian Hospital Otolaryngologists and the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors, provocatively stated that young people today prefer a dog than a child and this reduces the doctors' task by increasing that of veterinarians, finally stating that this is not a good sign.
THE VETERINARIANS' PROTEST
Pope Francis' utterances caused vets to rise up and, through the Federation of Veterinary Doctors, represented how society has changed and that the company of dogs and cats, especially in large cities where anonymity reigns, is an antidote to loneliness. For veterinarians, therefore, the development of their profession is anything but a bad sign.
THE BENEFIT OF PETS
However, the debate provides an opportunity for reflection on the issue of costs for the management and care of pets.
It is now well established that the interaction between pets and people, both adults and children, contributes to improving their physical, emotional, cognitive and social well-being and promotes recovery, healing and improvement of the quality of life, promoting processes of socialization.
It is therefore truly incomprehensible how in the current social context where the ownership, care and custody of companion animals is constantly encouraged and also flaunted its many positive aspects, there is no political will to intervene on the issue, preferring to direct the available resources towards sometimes very questionable topics (electric scooters, rotating benches, etc.).
For example, it is enough to consider all those cases in which the owner is not able to financially support the treatments, diagnostic tests or interventions that would be necessary to improve the state of health of the four-legged friend or, worse, to allow him to continue to live in a dignified manner.
In situations like the one described above, abandonment or euthanasia is resorted to – very often reluctantly – a choice pursued more times than one might imagine, especially in a general context of economic hardship like the current one.
TAX FOR THE RIGHT TO ANIMAL HEALTH
Unfortunately, it must be noted that there is no political will to use fiscal leverage as a tool to contribute, at least partially but in a more significant and efficient manner than current legislation, to improving the right to animal health.
This refers in particular to:
- VAT which is applied at a rate of 22% on food for dogs and cats as well as on all veterinary medical tests and services of all kinds;
- to the deduction in the tax return of veterinary medical expenses which is allowed within a maximum annual limit of €550.00 from which the deductible of €134.00 must be subtracted so, in practice, the maximum annual deduction due is € 79.00, i.e. 19% of 416.00.
The recent delegation on tax reform recently approved by the Council of Ministers provides, for the coverage of the various planned interventions, a rationalization of the approximately 600 "tax expenditures" which cost the State approximately 156 billion euros per year.
Fiscal leverage alone cannot solve the problem but, certainly, it can significantly contribute to containing it.
WHAT TO DO
In particular, starting from the consideration that a pet is neither a luxury good nor a source of income, one could:
- intervene on VAT at least by reducing it on all veterinary medical services and food;
- eliminate the maximum annual limit of Euro 550.00 for the deduction of veterinary medical expenses in the tax return (the current limit, from which the deductible must then be subtracted, is honestly to be considered offensive);
- consider the insurance policy taken out to cover specialist services and veterinary medical interventions deductible from your income (it would be a small help to compensate for the absence of any form of public health system).
Directing some resources by drawing from the "mare magnum" of benefits towards this issue would certainly make Italy a better country from a social and ethical point of view.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/veterinari-pediatri-papa-francesco/ on Thu, 23 Nov 2023 07:52:29 +0000.