Remember the User's Fee's or the Luxury Tax?

B

BayAreaBoater

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I would imagine that they were before some of the folks here started boating, but they caused quite the stir when they were introduced.

And neither of them lasted very long.

I remember the first Cow Palace Boat Show after the Luxury Tax was introduced. There were more boats with signs on them that read "$99,999.99" as a sale price (the Luxury Tax kicked in on amounts over $100K) than I had ever seen before.

Dealers were crying. Buyers were crying. Lenders were crying. Sales of boats over $100K tanked almost overnight.

And then there was the User's Fee. You had to pay a User's Fee that was based on the length of your boat. You were then issued a sticker to place on your hull next to the CF numbers that showed that you paid. The stickers had a large A, B, C & D to coincide with the length of your boat. I don't recall the lower amounts, but for the D sticker, it was $100. It was a Federal thing and the money did not go towards boating. It went to the General Fund to pay down the deficit. [:-irked] Hence my refusal to pay for one.

A lot of my neighbors didn't either. Local law enforcement didn't pursue the matter much either, since it was a Federal thing. The Coast Guard had the ultimate responsibility for enforcing it, but I never heard of them actually doing so.

Every now and then, while perusing boats at the various marina's and the online sales sites, I'll see a boat with one of those stickers still on it.

I guess they are still wearing them as a badge of honor???

As with the Luxury Tax, they didn't last too long either. I know that they did not refund any of the fee's that they did collect once they decided to abandon/repeal the idea.

Did anyone here pay for one? Does anyone still have the sticker on their boat?

Both of these "ideas" were back in the early 90's.
 
I remember; I paid for a B sticker; $50 if I recall. I tried and tried to removed it, but it was still on the boat when it left California...... I see that my son got it removed so he could put on the new Alaska registration numbers.....

Both of those were numbskull ideas IMO. Here in Cali, Brown will see the same thing with taxing the rich. The rich are leaving the state in droves, selling out and moving on. It will begin to have it's impact in a couple of year, I predict...
 
I'm sure it was some super duty, hi-tech adhesive that cost more than the sticker was worth! Sad to say...

I don't recall, were there two of them (one for each side like the CF numbers), or just one? If just one, did it have to go on a certain side? Port or starboard?

Just wondering...
 
They issued two. Had to be two fingers behind the CF number on the bow.......
 
Thanks for the response, Flutterby.

It's a shame that they didn't refund the money from the boater's that did pay once the nimrods in charge realized it was a bad idea.

It reminds me of these "temporary" fee's that voter's approve. There is nothing "temporary" about them! [:-banghead]
 
I remember it here in Florida though I recall reading that it had been refunded after repealed. I thought that was worse because those that paid it made the decision to "pay the price" vs, the many more that chose not to. This caused a recession in the industry,the closing of many boat companies and the unemployment of the workers in the industry. If refunded, it sort of punishes those whose actions (boycott) are the cause of its repeal. For that reason, I hope it was not refunded. The more people refuse to pay it, the shorter the resulting recession and the quicker the repeal. Must we really be subjected to this? Funny how punishing/targeting the rich always trickles down to the work force yet govt attempts it over and over again expecting a different result.
 
Mine was NOT refunded. I paid because it was being enforced in my boating waters very aggressively. I couldn't afford the fine! I think the USCG had too much time on there hands in the CA Delta and received special funding to enforce it. CG Station Rio Vista took full advantage of that funding......
 
quote:
Originally posted by BayAreaBoater

It reminds me of these "temporary" fee's that voter's approve. There is nothing "temporary" about them! [:-banghead]

Click to expand...


AMEN!
 
Sorry to hear that your fee's weren't refunded. I never heard that they were.

Yeah, I rolled the dice when it came to purchasing those things. I figured that there were so few CG boats south of B.I. that I would chance it. Plus I also carried a "get out of jail (or ticket)" card in my wallet that might have worked once with the Coasties.

I heard from a reliable source that the local Sheriff was not enforcing the issue since they would not get a "slice of the pie", so I held firm on my belief that I would play the odds and win. And I did.

But in either case, it was a moronic idea that (thankfully) didn't last too long.

[:-captain]
 
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