It鈥檚 no secret that . The , by 36 percent since 1995, and the . Oregon is full of old growth to make ends meet, and a Colorado nonprofit estimates that it鈥檒l take alone. In light of diminishing聽resources, it鈥檚 time for hikers, bikers, and paddlers to become more like gun owners and take care of our outdoor spaces.
Every time someone buys a rifle or ammunition in the U.S., they pay an 11 percent tax聽(10 percent for handguns) that . In 2014 alone, those taxes pumped $760 million into wildlife management, 颅property purchases, and other 颅essential endeavors. Without that revenue, and additional funding from a similar tax on fishing gear, our nation鈥檚 wildlife would be in trouble, says Whit Fosburgh, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a Washington, D.C., hunting and angling group. The taxes, along with 颅licenses, make up 80 percent of the funding for state fish and wildlife services. Fosburgh believes that other groups should be contributing as well. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for the general recreation community to ramp up their commitment to public lands,鈥 says Fosburgh.
He鈥檚 right. Just like hunters and fishermen are required to, we should have to ante up for the sake of our forests, deserts, and mountains whenever we buy new gear. The easiest way to do that is probably to create excise taxes on items like skis, tents, and snowboards. Some have proposed that mountain bikers be required to buy a sticker that funds trail maintenance, just as dirt bikers and ATV enthusiasts are in many states. However we do it, our public lands need financial support from the people buying everything from RVs and teardrop trailers to boots and trekking poles. It鈥檚 time to pay to play.聽
No one wants more taxes. And the believes the companies it represents are overpaying already. The trade group was formed in 1989, in part to fight the championed by then secretary of the interior Bruce Babbitt and others. The OIA argues that gear companies are already paying more than their share in import 颅taxes, since their overseas-made goods are subject to a rate between 14 and 35 percent, while other industries鈥攃ars and electronics, for example鈥攑ay anywhere from 8 percent to nothing at all. (The outdoor industry got a late start lobbying against 1930s-era tariffs.) Those taxes add as much as $45 to the price聽of a light waterproof hiker.聽
鈥淎t a time when we are trying to encourage people to get outside, we don鈥檛 want addi颅tional cost barriers,鈥 says OIA executive dir颅ec颅tor Amy Roberts. Furthermore, how do you differentiate between a pack used for hiking and one for carrying textbooks? Or a rain shell worn on the Appalachian Trail versus one used to stay dry in Seattle?聽
That sort of distinction isn鈥檛 made for gun sales. The firearms tax is nearly the same whether you鈥檙e buying a .44 Magnum or a deer rifle; Dirty Harry supports wildlife studies to almost the same degree as Ted Nugent.聽
If the OIA doesn鈥檛 want additional taxes, it should throw its political weight behind an effort to earmark its existing import tariffs for public lands rather than the federal General Fund, which can be used to pay for everything from military drones to border walls.聽
Of course, the biggest hurdle is the across the board. This means that the best solution for states is to follow聽the lead of Minnesota, where, in 2008, 颅voters approved a . It has already contributed $1.8 billion to help fund projects like the . 鈥淭he Duluth system is a tourist draw,鈥 says 颅Luther Propst, an board member. 鈥淪tates that fund聽their natural resources are gaining a competitive advantage.鈥
If Minnesota can successfully enact a general tax to support enjoyment of public lands, surely other states can pass laws that specifically target recreation groups. The hard truth is, we need all the means we can muster to preserve our outdoor playgrounds. Sportsmen can鈥檛 be the only ones carrying the load.