[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] backpack tax

I like what has been written against the backpack tax...
>
a few years ago, the atn printed a press release from a group promoting a
similar tax... I wrote a letter to the editor of the atn in opposition to
the tax & the atn's printing only one side side of the issue... they
responded by writing that they were just informing the public & I think I
replied that when you only show one side of an issue, imo, you are promoting
not informing... imo, that's partisan politics...
>
anyway, this outdoor-backpacker tax has been around for a few years, in one
form or another it is supported by Secretary Babbit but not by Congress or
President Clinton, to their credit...
>
but the people promoting the tax won't give up, they have shifted their
focus to try to sell it, they've tried to make it seem like a friendlier tax
by emphasizing the states in their new sales pitch... but make no mistake
about it, this is not a state tax, it is a federal tax & your state may
never see the money...
>
imo, protecting species is a good thing... but the money is already out
there, it has already been collected... the government doesn't need to
collect more taxes... it needs to be more responsible with the money it
has... btw, soon the atc will raise its dues, we should even look at how
they spend money, not an accusation just a statement of how we should do
business...
>
I know people will get tired of hearing about it but the $700,000 dollar dwg
nps privy is just the example we know about of wasteful federal spending...
btw, I hope you get to visit the palace of a visitors center built at the
dam outside las vegas to see another example of the fleecing of america...
>
I wrote my senator a few years ago in opposition to the outdoor tax... he
responded that not all specific item taxes work as they are intended &
sometimes result in disasterous consequences... he cited the example of the
luxury tax on luxury yachts... it was thought by some that rich people could
afford & should pay more for their yachts, heck it sounds good... but what
happended was that a small but good made-in-america boat building industry
collapsed, regular hard working american people lost their jobs... rich
people went off-shore to buy their boats... the same thing will happen here
with hiking gear, an increased tax will cost some americans their jobs... it
will hurt some american hiking gear manufacterers too... for example,
nalgene or platy may have the tax, so rubbermaid non-hiking bottles may be
considered a more affordable alternative... (in my atn letter, I think I
wrote why are we trying to hurt the businesses who support the trail?)...
>
fwiw, my neighbor is retired on a fixed income, she doesn't move around so
well now... I'm a birder so I set up a feeder outside her window... she
loves to sit at the window & watch the birds... but bird seed is expensive &
one item that would be included in this tax is birdseed... so, this tax
would hurt my neighbor on her fixed income too...
>
the easy thing to do is pass a tax, the hard thing to do is make the tough
choices on how to better spend tax money... & that means saying no to
somethings to be able to say yes to others... have you ever heard of a
federal tax that went down or was stopped?  I don't want this tax to
start... it's time for me to write my senators again...

safe travel / will / the green ghost.







* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List | For info http://www.hack.net/lists *

==============================================================================