In San Giorgio su Legnano, the mayor is calling for a tax on dogs to pay for children's meals.

San Giorgio su Legnano, a small town in the Milanese hinterland with 6.800 inhabitants, could be considered a sort of symbol of the demographic trend in Italy. In practice, this is what happens: the population is aging and young people are emigrating, only 280 children are enrolled in primary school, while 850 dogs are registered in the municipal registers. So, instead of having children here, as in much of Italy, people are raising dogs and cats.

Faced with this situation, the mayor of San Giorgio, Claudio Ruggeri, 58, elected on a civic list, wanted to make a constructive provocation, which was not just a denunciation. And asked the 850 dog owners to pay a sort of extra tax of 20 euros.

This money would have a specific purpose: to help reduce the cost of school canteen that the local administration had to raise the tax from 6 to 7 euros per family. Ruggeri, too, is a father of three and doesn't have dogs, but three cats, and his proposal was met with mixed reactions. On the one hand, many residents protested, saying it was a veritable "dog tax." On the other hand, someone did the math and discovered that if all dog owners paid the €20 fee, the city administration would have an extra profit of approximately €17.000. Money that, at that point, would not only be used to lower the cost of school lunches.

Some residents appreciated Mayor Ruggeri's focus on the declining birth rate and the economic difficulties faced by families with children. He insisted that this was not a tax, but a voluntary contribution based on a sense of community. Others, however, criticized the connection between owning a pet and not having children. Critics argue that the proposal risks simplifying very complex personal choices, which may be influenced by economic, health, or personal circumstances. Also because the mayor accompanied his proposal with a very clear sentence: "Your Labrador will not pay your pension.".

Meanwhile, the mayor's provocation also served to recall the ancient and noble history of San Giorgio su Legnano.

The oldest traces of human presence in the area date back to the Roman era: necropolises dating between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD have been found.

In the Middle Ages, the town was known as "Sotena" or "Sotera." Its current name derives from a small church dedicated to Saint George, connected to a convent of Augustinian friars documented as early as 1261. That convent also gave rise to the nearby Castle of San Giorgio in Legnano.

Until 1535, San Giorgio was part of the municipality of Legnano; it subsequently became an autonomous municipality following the administrative reforms of Emperor Charles V. In 1862, it officially took the name "San Giorgio su Legnano" to distinguish it from other Italian municipalities called San Giorgio.

In the twentieth century, the town gradually developed: new infrastructure was built, the modern parish church was inaugurated in 1935, and the community participated in the events of the Second World War. A figure remembered with particular affection is Giacomo Bassi, who during the war helped a Jewish family hide and escape Nazi persecution.

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