Pay Pet Tax or We'll Kill Your Dog, Swiss Village Warns

GENEVA (CBS/AP) A Swiss village has found a drastic way to compel dog owners to pay their pet's annual tax: cough it up, or the dog gets it.

Reconvilier - population 2,245 humans, 280 dogs - plans to put Fido on notice if any dog owner doesn't pay the roughly $50 annual tax.

Local official Pierre-Alain Nemitz says the move is part of an effort to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

He says a law from 1904 allows the village to kill a canine if a pet owner fails to pay the fee.

Nemitz told the AP on Monday that authorities have received death threats since news of the plan got out.

"This isn't about a mass execution of dogs," Nemitz said. "It's meant to put pressure on people who don't cooperate."

Perhaps there's a less drastic approach?