Dubya taxes hunters

[Ithaca 37]

"If you enjoy your right to camp, hunt, fish, bird watch, boat or just watch a sunset on Idaho's public lands, you need to protect that right now.

The issue: Congress is about to make permanent the Recreation Access Tax, or RAT, that requires you to pay a fee at campgrounds, trailheads, boat ramps, picnic sites and even scenic overlooks. Sometime between Monday and Thursday of next week, Congress will make a final vote on the RAT. Idahoans must contact our congressmen if we hope to prevent its enactment.

The RAT, or "fee demonstration program," began in 1996 as a supposed temporary "test" of public acceptance of new fees in addition to those we already pay through appropriated tax dollars to maintain outhouses, picnic tables, trails and boat ramps, etc. While the program has failed in its promise to generate new funds — since it costs more to administer than it takes in — it has succeeded in creating a new, ongoing funding source for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management bureaucracies.

Almost immediately, the RAT degenerated into a mire of broken promises and fiscal corruption. Congress's watchdog arm, the General Accounting Office, found:

• Despite claims of cost-effectiveness, the Forest Service secretly subsidized the RAT with $10 million of appropriated tax dollars.

• Costs of fee collections were hidden by concealing commissions paid to private vendors.

• Despite claims fee money reduces facility maintenance backlog — the very purpose of the RAT — the agency has no mechanism for measuring that it has, and no idea how large it really is.

Overall, the fee program has never paid for itself, so the claim that 80 percent of revenues goes for facility improvement is absolutely false.

Outrage at this skullduggery has been widespread. The state legislatures of Colorado, New Hampshire, Oregon and California have passed resolutions calling for its elimination. On June 25, 2003, the Times-News newspaper editor in Twin Falls called for civil disobedience by refusing to pay fees to end this program that "is both insulting and dishonest." By forcing us to pay, then counting that as proof we "support" fees is "the kind of coercive democracy you'd find in Castro's Cuba," wrote the editor.

Last week, after a supposedly successful effort against RAT by Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, sneaked his RAT bill (HR 3283) as a "rider" onto the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The RAT bill was never voted on by the Senate, where it stood little chance of passing, so Regula resorted to the worst kind of backroom deal-making.

If RAT becomes law, it will become the first new tax of President Bush's second term. And it will be an extraordinarily regressive tax that hits working families the hardest. To kill the RAT, readers should contact all members of our congressional delegation immediately and leave a simple message: Cut the RAT rider from the appropriations bill. Contact them as follows: e-mail: www.crapo.senate.gov.; www.craig.senate.gov.; www.house.gov/simpson; www.house.gov/otter. To phone, dial the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. For additional RAT information check www.wildwilderness.org."



http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041204/NEWS0503/412040304/1052/NEWS05

 

[Tom]

I think people would be so reluctant to go to a new place with those charges, it would loose money at first. My neighbor here is from Idaho and he searches for free boat ramps with a vengence.

He ended up, for a long time, at a trailer park on the coast, with a boat ramp, and could keep their trailer there for $150/month. They love to go socialize with the others who have their trailer there, even if the fishing is bad that weekend.

We have a boat ramp fee and access fee at a public lake near here, a city of 1 million plus. I should go ask them, what they make? What they do with the money?

 

[cjcj]

Yea this is Bullshit we already have some crap like that up in sedona AZ...it like $5.00 to pull over and look at a scenic view.

 

[AprilW]

While you were sleeping
Tom Boyd - 11/25/04
Tom Boyd

Ever heard of Ralph Regula?
No?

Neither had I, but now I know.

Regula, a Republican out of Ohio who has no public lands in his district, recently forced a measure through Congress that will make the very controversial fee-demo program permanent. The fee-demo program, instituted temporarily in 1996 (by Regula, via riders) and extended five times (by Regula, via riders) has angered thousands of people who want simple access their public lands up on Vail Pass.

Although it is a nation-wide issue, it has tremendous and immediate impact here in the valley.

People on both sides of the aisle and people who are normally on opposite sides of the land-use debate (motorized vs non-motorized) have come out vehemently against the fee-demo program as it exists now.

But Regula forced it through Nov. 19 as a rider to an omnibus bill.

What's even more upsetting than the fact that the fee-demo program has become permanent is the way it became permanent. Although the idea has limited support, and could never pass through Congress as a bill of its own, Regula attached it as a rider during a lame-duck session of Congress.

And get this: Robert Funkhouser, leader of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, was informed late Nov. 18 that Regula had backed off the idea of attaching the no-fee rider. Regula's office had been flooded with faxes and phone calls from around the nation begging him not to make the program permanent, and Funkhouser's group was asked to call off the dogs.

But Regula's promise was a lie.

Late at night, while most of us were sleeping, Regula flexed his big-gun political muscle and attached the rider anyway, ensuring the very unpopular fee-demo program would survive (yet again).

Once the bill was on, senators were forced to accept it or face political suicide: an omnibus bill is like a freight train - it can't be stopped once it gets rolling through congress, and if you get in its way because of a little rider... SPLAT! Bye-bye political career.

Attaching the Fee-Demo rider to this kind of bill was, frankly, despicable.

And yet Regula may become the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in January, probably the most powerful committee in government.

In the meantime the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation are now permanently able to charge fees for you to access your own public lands.

If the organizations aren't able to pay for the "maintenance" of public lands, they are empowered to shut them down. Your lands now, in essence, belong to someone else.

And your tax money, which is supposed to already be paying for "maintenance" of public lands, is being siphoned into unknown areas. Government officials aren't required to tell us where it's going. And here's what really gets me fired up: Thanks to Regula, now you're being charged again when you get to the borders of your public land. The money you give to the government is then used to pay rangers, who spend most of their time patrolling and ticketing users of public land. Some citizens are being charged THREE TIMES by public land managers.

Sounds like a cartel to me.

Mr. Regula, we object. VT

Arizona NoFee Coalition <[email protected]> wrote:

Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 13:36:23 -0500
To: Velma Hodson
From: Arizona NoFee Coalition
Subject: Ridding the RAT

In the 10 days since Representative Regula's Recreation Access Tax was
sneaked onto the Omnibus Appropriations bill, dozens of articles and
editorials have been published. All but one, have been critical of the new
tax and the underhanded way in which such unpopular legislation was rammed
through. Links to these articles are provided at
www.wildwilderness.org/docs/feedemo.htm and I encourge you to see what the
press has been reporting.

Even more interesting is what elected officials are saying. Senators and
House members are livid at the arrogance of Mr. Regula. Many are speaking of
revising the RAT when congress reconvenes. We should be encouraging and
supporting such efforts.

Technically speaking, the RAT has not yet passed. The House will vote on the
Omnibus Bill on Monday, December 6th. There is still an oppurtunity to rid
that bill of the RAT. A current action alert is available at
www.wildwilderness.org/aasg/current1.htm Please make the calls suggested.

One way or another, we will expunge Regula's vermin. Doing so will require
actions that further increase the visibility for this already contentious
issue. Contacting Senators as suggested in the above-referenced alert will
help. Having letters to the editor published will help even more as such
letters have the added benefit of educating your community about the
shenanigans that have taken place in Washington DC.

Whatever you do, remember the RAT was slipped onto the Omnibus bill by
people who knew that the program lacked adequate support to be passed into
law by normal legislative procedures. Remember that the RAT didn't just
crawl onto the Omnibus bill. People with names and reputations put it there.
I'd like to say to everyone who resents the underhanded dealing that gave us
the RAT.... "Don't get mad : Get even." Ruin some reputations. Undercut
some power. Do what it takes to ensure that these people do no further
injustice to you and yours in the coming year.

 

[Delw]

That was me not Aprilw


Ithaca how can you say the pres taxed them when it was snuk in. or do you just like to scare people into thinking that




Delw

 

[Tom]

Some guy from Ohio did it and he thinks the pres did it? Get real.

 

[Whiskers]

One way or another our tax dollars go to support county, state, and federal lands. You don't want timbering, the revenue that comes from that helps fund some of these lands. You don't want oil drilling, the fees associated with that would help reduce some of the cost. You want the roads opened, but don't want to pay to maintain them. Where I live you have to pay to launch a boat on state property, even a canoe. If you have a fishing license there is no charge. If you don't you have to buy a sticker. Let those that use pay for it. Why should those that don't use the services have to pay a share. I know I will get slammed for this but what the heck.

 

[Tom]

Good idea!

Right on Whiskers!

 

[Ithaca 37]

You think the Bush administration couldn't stop or change this bill if they want? Do you think Dubya has the power to veto it? If the RAT is enacted into permanent law I say Dubya gets the credit for it. That's the way the game is played, right? He can veto the whole bill and tell Congress to start over. That's what a president who cares about outdoor recreationists would do.

 

[Tom]

It might have snuck into some important bill that is not good to veto. Only one Idaho senator worked against it. I think Idaho should get 1/2 credit too.

 

[Ithaca 37]

Our other senator (Crapo) is against it, too, so Idaho should get no credit.

 

[Nut]

It can be changed easily enough by the current administration if they really cared. So yes I would blame Bushie boy if he signed the bill and did nothing.

 

[Tom]

We're so used to paying for stuff that we use down here, it really seems pretty trivial. I imagine there was no reason to change it. I guess it might not work, you'd have to show money was being wasted, to stop it. Did they do that?

It seems trivial to pay a few dollars to put your boat in. I guess if it doesn't pay to have a staff there, just have a boat ramp liscense and the game warden could check that, just like a hunting liscense. That might be a more effective way to implement it. I really don't care, its so rare I would use it.

Is there a boat pass or you have to pay someone every time you go out?

 

[Ithaca 37]

Remember what Harry Truman said? "The buck stops here."

 

[cjcj]

What pisses me off is all of these "small" taxes $ 3 here... $12 there... sorry it all adds up...what inthe hell is all of the "income tax" for? We have a federal income tax and that should pay for "all" of our national parks,etc. we have a state income tax [AZ] also...2 years ago we started paying $3 for a Migratory bird permit for doves,bandtails etc. before that it was free[you registerd] and they gave you a {H.I.P.] number...they used to "fine 'your ass if they caught you fishing with 2 poles...but if you pay for a 2 pole stamp its OK?...Its not just the money...its the hassle..Its all overtaxing bullshit I.M.O.

 

[BigHornRam]

IT,

You and your kind amaze me! You guys claim that recreational use of public land is better economically than resource extraction. When your asked to step up to the plate and pay for the costs to manage recreational use, you whine about it.

I am a big fan of USE TAXE'S. You use it you pay. You don't use it, you don't pay. I can just hear all the whining from the anti atv crowd if atv licensing was paid for out of the general fund. The best part of use tax's, is that those who pay the taxes, have the most say in how the resource is managed.

 

[Ithaca 37]

BHR, Aren't you able to read the first post? The program has been corrupted from the beginning. We're already subsidizing it.

 

[snake river rufus]

"
The issue: Congress is about to make permanent the Recreation Access Tax, or RAT, ]

If congress is voting- Why is it Bush's fault

 

[BuzzH]

BHR,

Good point, and I agree with you that the USER fees are the best way to do things. Unfortunately this part of your post isnt true..."those that pay have the most say", thats simply not the case though. I wish it was, but it isnt. When dealing with PUBLIC lands and PUBLIC resources, it doesnt matter who pays for what. I'm kind of glad thats the case as every citizen should have a "say" in public lands and resources and the management of them. I realize that it is a pain in the ass at times, but its also beneficial at times as well.

I dont think Ithaca is against user fees, but against the corruption thats already present in this program. If you're going to bother enacting legislation of this nature, at least do it right. I also think its another blaring example of just how out-of-touch Bush is with Natural Resource Issues.

 

[BuzzH]

SRR, ever heard of the word "veto"????