Proposed RI tax bill could sink charter fleet

As originally reported in the Providence Journal


Proposed tax bill could sink charter fleet


09:28 AM EDT on Sunday, March 30, 2008


By TOM MEADE
Journal Sports Writer

A tax bill working its way through the legislature could destroy the state’s charter-fishing fleet, even though the measure would exempt charter boats from new direct taxes, according to Capt. John Rainone, president of the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association.

The bill could also affect the rest of the sport-fishing industry, which generates $188.5 million in business each year in the state, according to figures compiled by the American Sportfishing Association, a national trade organization.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, is riddled with contradictions, says Capt. Jim White, a member of the charter boat association. For example, it extends the sales-tax exemption on boat sales as long as the boats are docked in Rhode Island.

On the other hand, the measure would impose a new tax on dockage. In addition, charter boats must buy federal and state permits, pay corporation taxes (which would rise under Handy’s measure) and special insurance in order to operate legally.

White, the skipper of the center-console boat White Ghost, says, “I have to spend $38,000 before I make my first dime of the season.”

Besides affecting charter boats directly, the tax bill would also increase or broaden taxes on businesses that draw tourist anglers to Rhode Island, such as hotels and taxis, says White.

“If this thing passes,” he says, “it means the end of the sport-fishing business as we know it.”

Rainone agrees. “The guys who are doing 60 to 70 trips a year,” he says, “are going to fail.”