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View Full Version : Dingle Johnson Tax...the next time you complain about high priced tackle shops..



DarkSkies
12-07-2009, 05:44 PM
This has its origins in the Dingle-Johnson Act, the original name for the the Wallup-Breaux Act. For purposes of discussion, here we'll just discuss it as it applies to tackle shops. In the other thread we'll discuss the broader implications, and call it Wallup-Breaux, the name everyone now knows it as.

Maybe you want to learn a little about this punishing tax, one that makes it even more expensive for the brick and mortar stores to compete with internet stores.

The Dingle Johnson Tax:

http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/FASPORT.HTML
Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service


Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act


Federal Aid inSport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777-777k, 64 Stat. 430) (http://www.fws.gov/scripts/exit-to-fed.cfm?link=http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title16/chapter10b_.html&linkname=GPO), as amended. This August 9, 1950, Act has been amended several times and is commonly called the Dingell-Johnson Act or Wallop-Breaux Act. It provides Federal aid to the States for management and restoration of fish having "material value in connection with sport or recreation in the marine and/or fresh waters of the United States." In addition, amendments to the Act provide funds to the states for aquatic education, wetlands restoration, boat safety and clean vessel sanitation devices (pumpouts), and a nontrailerable boat program.

Funds distributed to states for the various programs funded in the Act are collected in an account known as the Sport Fish Restoration Account, one of two accounts in the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund established under the authority of the internal revenue code (26 U.S.C. 9504(a) (http://www.fws.gov/scripts/exit-to-fed.cfm?link=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+26USC9504&linkname=GPO)). Unless otherwise specified in the Act, funds are permanently appropriated (see P.L. 136, August 31, 1951; 65 Stat. 262). Funds are derived from a 10-percent excise tax on certain items of sport fishing tackle (Internal Revenue Code of 1954, sec. 4161), a 3-percent excise tax on fish finders and electric trolling motors, import duties on fishing tackle, yachts and pleasure craft, interest on the account, and a portion of motorboat fuel tax revenues and small engine fuel taxes authorized under the Internal Revenue Code (Sec. 9503).

To be eligible to participate in the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration program, states are required to assent to this law and pass laws for the conservation of fish which include a prohibition against the diversion of license fees for any other purpose than the administration of the state fish department.

Funds for the permanently appropriated States sport fish program are apportioned on a formula basis for paying up to 75 percent of the cost of approved projects which include acquisition and improvement of sport fish habitat, stocking of fish, research into fishery resource problems, surveys and inventories of sport fish populations, and acquisition and development of access facilities for public use. Funds for the remaining programs under the Act must be authorized to be appropriated from the Sport Fish Restoration Account by Congress.

Public Law 91-503, approved October 23, 1970 (84 Stat. 1101) provided, among other things, for development of comprehensive fish and wildlife resource management plans as an optional means for participating in the program.

Public Law 98-369, approved July 18, 1984 (26 U.S.C. 9504 (http://www.fws.gov/scripts/exit-to-fed.cfm?link=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+26USC9504&linkname=GPO), 98 Stat. 1012) created the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund comprised of the Sport Fish Restoration Account and the Boating Safety Account. This amendment expanded the items of fishing tackle subject to the 10-percent excise tax and imposed a new 3-percent excise tax on fish finders and electric trolling motors. In addition, it provided for the deposit of receipts from these excise taxes and from the following sources into the Sport Fish Restoration Account: the motorboat fuels tax revenues less amounts deposited into the Boating Safety Account, and the import duties on fishing tackle, yachts and pleasure craft. This Act also directed that the additional funds be equitably allocated between marine and sport fish. The law also directed States to use up to 10 percent of funds for boating access facilities and aquatic resources education programs.

Public Law 98-369 also amended the Sport Fish Restoration Act to require the States to equitably allocate these new funds between marine and fresh water projects and to allocate 10 percent of apportionments to boating facilities. Payments for multi-year projects were authorized; the administrative expense deduction was reduced from 8 percent to 6 percent; up to 10 percent was authorized for aquatic resources education; and the District of Columbia was qualified for 1/3 of 1 percent.

The effective date of these amendments was October 1, 1984, and they are commonly called the Wallop-Breaux amendments.

Public Law 100-448, approved September 28, 1988 (102 Stat. 1836) increased the amount authorized to be appropriated from the motor boat fuels tax receipts into the Boating Safety Account from $45 million to $60 million for Fiscal Years 1989 and 1990, then to $70 million for Fiscal Years 1991, 1992, and 1993. It also amended the Sport Fish Restoration Act to require States to equitably allocate all amounts apportioned between marine and freshwater projects, with no State to receive less than the amount apportioned in 1988.

Public Law 100-17, which became law on April 2, 1987, over the President's veto, (101 Stat. 132) extended the imposition of the motor boat fuels tax to October 1993.

Title XI of P.L. 101-508 (approved November 5, 1990; 104 Stat. 1388-425) repealed the Internal Revenue Code provision that established an expiration date for the motorboat fuel tax. The rate and duration of the tax are as follows: the 14 cents tax in effect as of December 18, 1991, is composed of the sum of the Highway Trust Fund financing rate (11 1/2 cents) and the deficit reduction rate (2 1/2 cents). The Highway Trust Fund financing rate authority expires in 1999, and the deficit reduction rate expired in 1995.

Title III of P.L. 101-646 (16 U.S.C. 3951 (http://www.fws.gov/scripts/exit-to-fed.cfm?link=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+16USC3951&linkname=GPO)) amended the Act to require the Secretary to spend 18 percent of each annual appropriation in the Sport Fish Restoration Account for programs authorized under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act. That Act also authorized funds under the Act through fiscal year 1999.

Title VIII of P.L. 102-240 (approved December 18, 1991; 105 Stat. 1914) extended the appropriation to the Highway Trust Fund of, among other receipts, amounts equivalent to taxes received from motorboat fuels through September 30, 1999. It also extended through September 30, 1997, the requirement to transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the Boat Safety Account amounts attributable to the motorboat fuels tax. It extended through September 30, 1997, the requirement to transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the Sport Fish Restoration Account amounts equivalent to the small-engine fuel tax receipts. Finally, it extended through March 31, 1998, the authority for expenditures from the Boat Safety Account.

Subtitle F of P.L. 102-587 (approved November 2, 1992; 106 Stat. 5039), authorized the distribution of funds under the Act for the constructing, renovation, operation, or maintaining of pump-out stations and waste reception facilities. Authorized appropriations for fiscal years 1993-1997. The new law also increased from 10 to 12.5 percent the amount available under the Act for states to improve access to public waters. It also directed that the boating safety program of the Department of Transportation receive $20 million from the Sport Fish Restoration Account.

Subtitle D, Section 7401 of Public Law 105-178 (112 Stat. 482) contains the Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act. These provisions created a national outreach program to promote boating and fishing and provides funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2003. This section also increased from 10 percent to 15 percent the amount states may spend for outreach and communications, and increases from 12.5 percent to 15 percent the amount states must spend for boating access.This public law also reauthorized the Clean Vessel Act by providing $10 million for fiscal years 1999 through 2003 for the sanitation pumpout program. It amended the Act to provide funds to the Coast Guard for their boating safety grant program. It also created a formula, based on the amount appropriated, which could provide up to $70 million each fiscal year from 1999 through 2003 for the boating safety program. This section also created a new boating infrastructure program to be administered by the Service, and provides $8 million for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2003 for this program. Title IX of this Act extended the transfer of motorboat and small engine fuel taxes from the Highway Trust Fund to the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund from fiscal year 1999 through 2005. This title also provided for the deposit into the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund of a portion of the 6.8 cents per gallon of the gas tax which is currently being deposited into the General Fund.

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, P.L. 109-59, amended the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act to make authorization of appropriations from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund for each fiscal year available during the succeeding fiscal years. This Act specifies percentages of the balance of annual FY2005-2019 appropriations remaining after certain expenditures, which shall be distributed for: (1) coastal wetlands; (2) boating safety; (3) certain waste water treatment projects under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992; (4) boating infrastructure project grants for facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels; and (5) the National Outreach and Communications Program.

This public law also transfers certain funds that remain unobligated for three years from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Homeland Security for state recreational boating safety programs. In addition, the law establishes earmarks of not more than $3 million for each fiscal year 2006-2009 for sport fish restoration projects under the multistate conservation grant program.

The Sportfishing and Recreational Boating Safety Amendments Act of 2005, Public Law 109-74, increased the authorization of appropriations from the Highway Trust Fund to the Secretary of Transportation for payment of expenses of the Coast Guard for personnel and activities directly related to coordinating and carrying out the national recreational boating safety program. The Act also extended the authorization of appropriations from the Highway Trust Find through fiscal year 2005 for the national outreach and communications program and qualified projects under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992.

See also the SAFETEA: A Legacy For Users, Clean Vessel Act, and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act. Return to Resource Laws (http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/resourcelaws.htm)

DarkSkies
12-07-2009, 05:50 PM
Breakdown, for those who get headaches reading stuff like the above.

The way I understand it, the state garners an additional 10% tax from all gross sales at any tackle shop that has a physical location.

An EXTRA 10% these guys need to pay, in addition to sales tax, just to open their doors for business. IMO that really sucks.

Other opinions welcome.

DarkSkies
12-07-2009, 05:53 PM
http://wildlifelaw.unm.edu/fedbook/djact.html

FEDERAL AID IN SPORT FISH RESTORATION ACT (DINGELL-JOHNSON ACT)
16 U.S.C. §§ 777-777l, August 9, 1950, as amended 1956, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1992.

Overview. This Act, commonly called the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance for state fish restoration and management plans and projects.

Selected Definitions. Coastal state: Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Fish restoration and management projects: projects designed for the restoration and management of all species of fish which have material value in connection with sport or recreation in the marine and/or fresh waters of the U.S., including research into fish management and culture; the necessity and effects of fishing regulation; plans for restocking food and game fishes; and the acquisition, restoration, rehabilitation and improvement of land and water for fish hatching, feeding, resting or breeding. §§ 777 and 777a.

Federal-State Relationships. The Act directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to cooperate with state fish and game departments in fish restoration and management projects. No money apportioned under the Act to a state can be expended until its legislature assents to the provisions of the Act and passes laws for the conservation of fish, including a prohibition against the diversion of fishing license fees for purposes other than administration of the state fish and game department. According to the Wallop-Breaux amendments passed in 1984, coastal states must allocate amounts apportioned to them under the Act between marine and freshwater fish projects in the same proportion as the estimated number of resident marine and freshwater anglers. § 777.

Sport Fish Restoration Account. The provisions of this Act are funded through the Sport Fish Restoration Account, which is part of the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund created by the Wallop-Breaux amendments in 1984 and described in 26 U.S.C. § 9504. As explained in 26 U.S.C. §§ 9504 and 4161, the Account consists of sales tax on sport fishing equipment (including fishing rods, reels, lines, hooks; artificial lures, baits and flies; and fishing supplies and accessories), electric outboard motors and sonar fish-finding devices, and import duties on fishing tackle and yachts and pleasure craft. Congress authorized the amounts received by the Sport Fish Restoration Account to be appropriated for carrying out the Act. § 777b.

Apportionment of Funds Among States. The Secretary must distribute 18 percent of each annual appropriation in the manner provided in the 1990 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act. Of the remaining balance, the Act requires that $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $15,000,000 for each fiscal year 1994 and 1995, and $20,000,000 for each fiscal year 1996 and 1997 be used as follows: one-half must be transferred to the Secretary of Transportation for state recreational boating safety programs; one-half must be available for two years for obligation under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992 for project grants made by the Secretary (see the Editor's Note below). Amounts unobligated after two years must be transferred to the Secretary of Transportation for state recreational boating safety programs. In fiscal year 1998, $20,000,000 must be transferred to the Secretary of Transportation for these programs. The Secretary may use six percent of the remaining appropriated funds for administering the Act.

After these distributions the funds must be apportioned among the states as follows: 40 percent in the ratio which the area of each state, including coastal and Great Lakes waters, bears to the total area of all the states; 60 percent in the ratio which the number of persons holding paid licenses to fish for sport or recreation in the state bears to the number of license holders in all the states. Sums unexpended or unobligated at the end of the succeeding fiscal year may be spent by the Secretary for the Fish and Wildlife Service's research program on fish of material value for sport or recreation. § 777c.

Fish Restoration Plans and Projects. To receive funding under the Act, states must submit to the Secretary either a five-year comprehensive fish and wildlife resource management plan that perpetuates these resources for the economic, scientific and recreational enrichment of the people or proposed fish restoration and management projects. The Secretary may finance out of a state's apportioned funds up to 75 percent of the cost of implementing plans or projects, and 75 percent of the initial costs of land acquisition and construction. Any construction work and labor must be performed under the direct supervision of the state fish and game department, subject to inspection and approval of the Secretary and in accordance with the Act's regulations.

States are required to maintain fish restoration and management projects established under the Act. Title to real or personal property or improvements acquired by a state with funds paid under the Act belongs to the state. States may use contributions of funds, real property and services in lieu of payment of the state share of the project costs. §§ 777e, 777f and 777l.

Use of Apportioned Funds. The Act requires states to allocate 12-1/2 percent of their apportioned funds for the payment of up to 75 percent of the costs of acquiring, developing, renovating or improving facilities for public access to U.S. waters for recreational boating purposes. States within a Fish and Wildlife Service

Administrative Region may allocate more or less in a fiscal year, provided that the total regional allocation averages 12-1/2 percent over a five-year period. Additionally, states may use 10 percent of apportioned funds to pay up to 75 percent of the costs of an aquatic resource education and outreach program to increase public understanding of the nation's water resources and associated aquatic life forms. Apportioned funds also may be used to pay up to 75 percent of the costs of constructing, renovating, operating or maintaining pumpout stations and waste reception facilities. § 777g.

Payments of Funds to and Cooperation with U.S. Territories. The Secretary is authorized to cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture of Puerto Rico, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and the Governors of Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands in the conduct of fish restoration and management projects. The Act also authorizes the Secretary to apportion out of each year's apportioned funds up to one percent for Puerto Rico, and one-third of one percent each for the District of Columbia, Guam,
American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands. Cooperating agencies are not required to pay more than 25 percent of the cost of a project. § 777k.

New England Fishery Resources. The Act contains the text of the New England Fishery Resources Restoration Act of 1990, 16 U.S.C. § 777e-1, which is summarized separately in this Handbook.

Editor's Note. The Clean Vessel Act of 1992, 33 U.S.C. § 1322 note, authorizes funds to states for the construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of pumpout stations and waste reception facilities, to reduce the sewage discharged by recreational vessels. The Act requires coastal states to survey the number and location of pumpout stations and waste reception facilities within their coastal zone, along with the number of recreational vessels with on-board toilets, and develop a plan to construct or renovate stations and facilities to meet the needs of these vessels.
The Secretary of the Interior may make grants for up to 75 percent of costs, using the funds designated under the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act, to: coastal states for conducting the survey, developing the plan, constructing and renovating pumpout stations and waste reception facilities, and educating recreational boaters about waste discharge; inland states with a demonstrated need for educating recreational boaters and constructing and renovating pumpout stations and waste reception facilities.
Chapter 4 - Statute Summaries (http://wildlifelaw.unm.edu/fedbook/statute_frame.htm)
Federal Wildlife & Related Laws Handbook (http://wildlifelaw.unm.edu/fedbook/index.html)

Frankiesurf
12-07-2009, 07:57 PM
Actually Rich, it's 10%.

You should look at it as going towards a greater good.

There is a very small sample of us fishermen that prescribe to the notion of benefitting the aquaculture that we enjoy so much. With this Dingell-Johnson Act, now known as the Wallop-Breaux Act, the federal government is taking this money and putting it towards the greater good.

We ALL benefit from this, even those "fishermen" who could care less about contributing towards conservation do it completely unknowingly. Which serves them right in not being involved.