Hinkly Dinkly Reporting!

My stance has always been that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. Today’s news fortifies that conviction…
This headlines a True story…

DUTCH FAMILY TAXED FOR BARKING DOORBELL
(Where do these crazy stories come from?)

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The Bruintjes family says a city inspector was barking up the wrong tree when he handed them a $97.00 bill for the Dutch dog tax.

The family insists it does not have a dog — only a barking doorbell.

It was the second year in a row the family had a run-in with authorities over their doorbell, which plays 15 different barking noises, Dutch media reported Thursday.

"Last year it was a huge effort to convince the inspector that we didn't have a dog, and now it's happened again," Gerrit Bruintjes was quoted as saying by RTL Nieuws.

In the Netherlands, dog owners are required to pay the "hondenbelasting," an infamous annual tax that is frequently evaded.

Nice to know America is not the only goofy country in the world.
The “hondenbelasting”?…sounds like something that comes with a Volkswagen.
Where do they get those weird words?

I must wonder why someone would want to have a barking doorbell? Obviously to make people think they have a dog.
Well…It worked!
Now they have to convince the tax collectors they don’t have a dog.
So what should they do…take him back to their house and push the doorbell, activating the dog barks thus proving they don’t have a dog right?
Wrong! All that proves is they have a barking doorbell.
If that would get them off, everybody with a dog would buy a similar bell and hide their dog.

Here’s an interesting thought. I wonder what type of tax would be levied on them if they bought a doorbell that sounded like a roaring elephant?

Hinkly Out!
By George