上周五，意大利当地媒体报道该国议会委员会提议向猫狗等宠物征税，以帮助饱受债务危机困扰的城镇增加收入。这一消息发布后立即受到各界批评，动物权益保护组织称这一做法会让更多动物被遗弃。

A proposal to levy¹（征收） a tax on cats and dogs that stunned² Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn³ on the same day it was made public.

Italy was abuzz（嗡嗡的） for hours after local media reported that a parliamentary commission had proposed a tax on domestic "animals of affection" to raise revenue for debt-strapped cities and towns.

Protests were voiced by everyone from animal rights groups – who said it would prompt more people to abandon animals – to politicians who called it everything from "grotesque⁴" to "surreal" to "idiotic⁵" to "shameful⁶".

There was so much reaction – all of it incredulous（怀疑的） – that one Italian agency ran nearly 40 news items on the proposal in less than four hours.

The proposal was withdrawn by early Friday evening however, and it seemed everyone on the commission where it was discussed was denying its paternity.

"The only thing that's left to tax are wives and children," said parliamentarian Domenico Scilipoti.

Italy, like many other countries across the euro zone, is struggling to revive its economy and reduce its public debt, a predicament that has prompted the country's lawmakers to try to dream up new revenue-raising measures.