
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 24, 1991                   TAG: 9102250393
SECTION: BOAT SHOW                    PAGE: 7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FEDERAL USER FEES HAVE BOATERS UPSET

Boaters are both upset and confused by a federal user fee that is designed to collect anywhere from $25 to $100 from the owners of recreation craft on water under U.S. Coast Guard jurisdiction.

The fee is part of the deficit reduction package passed by Congress last year which, among other things, boosted the price of gasoline by 5 cents. Also included, a boater must now pay a 10 percent federal tax on any amount above $100,000 that he pays for a newly manufactured boat.

The user fee varies according to the length of the watercraft: $25 for boats 16 to 20 feet; $35 for boats 20 to 27 feet; $50 for boats 27 to 40 feet and $100 for boats 40 feet or more.

Yet to be decided is who will collect the fees and exactly what lakes and streams will be included.

Impoundments like Smith Mountain, Philpott, Claytor and Kerr are considered to be under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard, even though the agency has little presence there, but would they be included in the fee system? Officials appear to be unable to answer that at this time.

No fees are to be collected until the rules are finalized, published in the Federal Register and subjected to a 45-day period of public comment.

The U.S. Postmaster General's Office has expressed willingness to collect the fees. It is anticipated that a decal will be issued when the fee is paid.

Major boating organizations are expressing opposition to the fee. The National Boating Federation has called it "a discriminatory tax" and says the Coast Guard is "no more obligated to assist a boater in trouble than previously."

Boat owners have been signing petitions calling for repeal of the fee. Rep. Robert Davis, R-Mich., has introduced a bill (HR 534) to kill the tax and co-sponsors have been signing on in impressive numbers.

Among the organizations behind the effort is the 380,000-member Boat Owners Association of the United States.

One thing bothering many boaters is that the $140 million expected to be collected would be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury and not earmarked for the Coast Guard budget or boating in general.

by CNB