Are you one of those people who think the $16 Trillion deficit doesn’t affect you? Do you enjoy fishing, hunting, or boating in Arizona? How about learning about conservation and where to go to view wildlife?
Brace yourself. If the Federal Government and the current Administration has its way, your enjoyment of these and other services provided by Arizona Game and Fish, through your excise taxes, is taking a back seat to "deficit reduction."
I originally spotted an alert on this on Facebook. Jake Hoffman, candidate for Higley School board, just posted this full article on FaceBook.
If you don’t use Facebook, here’s another link to the article titled Federal Government Targets Sportsmens Dollars to Reduce Deficit.
At the end of the article are Action Items that you can take to try to stop the bulging bureaucracy from stealing your excise taxes you pay for conservation and diverting it to deficit reduction.
Here are some excerpts:
"….By law, your dollars are allocated to each state to support important conservation work on the ground and to keep critical wildlife programs going. Since 1939, the State of Arizona has integrated these funds, along with dedication of license-based revenues, into the core of our financing for wildlife conservation. With these resources, the state has been able to restore elk and bighorn sheep populations, construct and operate boat ramps and shooting ranges, restore native trout species, develop a modern hatchery program and continue conservation of our wildlife heritage.
"….Ironically, the current administration’s Office of Management and Budget has decided that your funds must be withheld (sequestered) under provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2012. While this action only keeps funds from being allocated to state wildlife agencies (for now) and does not in and of itself divert your funds, it does set the stage for future Congressional action which could sweep these funds from the trust accounts into the federal treasury.
"….Because of explicit language in the original acts, these funds are to be allocated to the states and are not subject to annual Congressional appropriation. It is difficult to understand how these funds are now subject to the provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2012. Excise taxes would still be collected from manufacturers of hunting and fishing equipment and excise taxes would be paid by hunters, anglers, archers, boaters and shooters. Interest will still accrue in the various accounts. However, the new action of the Budget Control Act automatically denies the full allocation of funds to each state for their intended purpose of fish and wildlife conservation."