Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992 TAG: 9202220028
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FEDERAL FEE STILL KICKING UP ANGRY WAKE
Never mind the angry phone calls.Never mind the "Appeal for Repeal Days" program.
Never mind the concerns of 60 percent of the members of the House of Representatives.
The highly unpopular federal Recreation Vessel Fee lives on. If you paid $25 to $100 to cover the "user fee" last year, a new payment is due. The decal that you received for your boat in 1991 expired Dec. 31.
Local boaters who purchased a decal last year say they have received no renewal form. They've had to chase down one on their own.
If you have been holding your breath, hoping the fee would go away, expect to turn deep purple before that occurs. It appears the fee will be around most of this year - and maybe a lot longer.
The fee is being charged the owners of power boats 16 feet or longer who operate on navigable water with tidal influences. That means you don't need to worry about it if you boat on Smith Mountain, Philpott, Claytor and Kerr lakes, for example.
If you trailer your rig to the Chesapeake Bay or Eastern Shore or run the Intracoastal Waterway, you do need the decal. And be aware, if you take your bass boat to the James River below the fall line at Richmond, you'll need the decal. That is tidal-influenced water.
The fee varies according to the length of your craft: $25 for boats over 16 feet but less than 20 feet; $35 for boats 20 feet and over but less than 27 feet; $50 for boats 27 feet and over but less than 40 feet; $100 for boats 40 feet and longer.
You can pay the fee over the phone with a Mastercard or Visa credit card by calling 1-800-848-2100. If you just want information on the fee, call 1-800-368-5647.
Boaters frequently have been directing their phone calls to their congressmen or senators. The fee has stimulated a national outrage that has included an "Appeal for Repeal Days." The program has urged the president and key congressional leaders to help kill the fee. A House repeal bill in the past session contained the names of more than 260 co-sponsors. A companion bill in the Senate was co-sponsored by nearly one-third of the U.S. Senate.
Many boaters see the fee as a new tax in disguise. It was mandated by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which also boosted the price of gasoline by 5 cents a gallon and set a 10 percent tax on any amount above $100,000 that a boater pays for a newly manufactured boat.
The user fee money goes for general expenditures, and not for specific programs aimed at boating.
At this point, the fee is expected to remain in effect until revenues from some new tax offset those collected from boaters. Since there is considerable uncertainty when that will occur, a boater who doesn't plan to use his craft on coastal water anytime soon might be wise to wait before purchasing his decal.
If, however, a boater plans late-winter or early-spring coastal trips, there is little choice other than pay the fee. Failure to do so can result in a civil penalty.