On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 7:12 AM, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote: > > Ridiculous, isn't it? You'd think in an era when over-the-road trucking > can be scanned at speed at weight stations via laser pick-offs from their > transponders that a simpler, cheaper electronic system would be common. Go > figure. > > The category of tax called "user fees" almost always cost more to collect than they return in funding for that particular "use". I can remember when state park campgrounds in Washington were free. You simply showed up, pitched your tent in whatever site was unoccupied that you liked, and there you were. After a while someone noticed that it did require occasional clean up work (campers were a pretty clean lot in the 50s) so someone had the bright idea of charging a fee to camp. So it was done. Then they discovered that since quite a few of these places were in the boonies ("outback" for you antipodeans) (grin) they had to build cabins for the folks who collected the fees to live in. After a while it appeared that a few of these "Rangers" had wives and children who wanted electricity and water so they added those. Naturally the costs of these improvements were passed along to the campers in the form of higher fees. Before long we had ranch style homes even in campgrounds that were near to towns with available housing and even higher fees. So as I drive in to Steamboat Rock State Park today, for instance, I see at least four pretty nice homes with attendant outbuildings along driveways marked "no entry". Steamboat Rock State Park is only about 7 miles from a town with available housing. I'm not a Luddite or a Libertarian but I think Paul is pretty much correct when he says that the business of a bureaucracy is grow a bigger bureaucracy. Just as the business of politics is to get re-elected. If we end up with nice campgrounds along the way.... well, that's just the realization of one side in the equation that if they don't give us *something* then we'll notice what's going on quicker. And some of these campgrounds are pretty nice. Too bad that, with the institution of the reservation system, you can't get into any of them unless you book a few weeks in advance. (I have noticed Oregon splits some parks into first-come, first-served areas and reserved areas.) In the past month Idaho managed to deter at least one paddler with their surcharge for invasive species. Since there was no place to buy the required permit anywhere close to where the put-in was, that paddler just said, "Aw the heck with it!) and came over to visit me instead. Do you think there will be a return trip? Not likely. How brilliant is that? Since it seems to be impossible to institute a tax or raise an existing one the states are reduced to instituting fees that are pretty much guaranteed to reduce tourism traffic. I know I'm not going to paddle in Idaho and apparently not Oregon either. But since tourism is one of the largest industries (if not *the* largest) in both states you'd think someone might have seen some unintended consequences. Apparently not. Meanwhile the Legislatures fund committees that look into how much tax money they can defer to some corporation or another so it can come in and set up a facility that will close the day after the deferments end. If not sooner. Maybe China should institute more user fees. If invasive species are harmful then they are harmful to the entire population. Saddling one group with the entire cost is counter-productive on so many levels. I recall that when Oregon had a two-tiered camping fee (one for OR residents and another, higher, one for non-residents) I stopped buying anything in Oregon for 25 years. Even after they rescinded that stupid fee. I had just started traveling to Oregon again in the past couple of years but it appears that might have to change. I don't like to complain.... but I don't let that stop me! :) Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Oct 13 2009 - 08:52:41 PDT
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