It's an odd way to collect taxes, but I guess if it works? I just hope that the animals are treated well if they are taken, and rehomed if they aren't going to be returned to the owner.
So the logic here is ... if you can't afford to pay your taxes, then you can't afford to keep an animal?
I mean, what? does the government have a plan for re-selling the animals for their supposed worth? It probably costs them more to take care of the animals in the interim!
I think the logic here is more along the lines of - no one is enthusiastic about paying taxes. They're scofflaws. But they love their cats and will ante up the money in order to keep them.
I didn't get the sense that cats were actually confiscated, more that there was a threat to confiscate them.
Well I guess they can't threaten to exile you to Siberia if you don't pay up .
It sounds like the only reason they threatened her with that was because the cats were pedigreed and presumably could be sold to pay off the debt. I doubt they'd threaten to take anybody's moggie. Legally (in the US at least, and it sounds like Russia too), pets are considered property so they can be seized to pay your debts like any property of value.