Idaho Legislators Ransack Gas Tax Money from Parks and Recreation and Give to Dept. of Transportation
As part of a last minute concession by Idaho legislators to allow them to go home, a deal was struck that took our recreational gas tax funding away from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and gave it to the Idaho Department of Transportation. While this may have made the life of the legislature and the Governor’s office a little easier, it dealt a crushing blow to the recreation community. The Idaho Recreational Council has made it our mission to remedy the mistake, but we need your help!
The Idaho Recreation Council is a recognized, statewide collaboration of Idaho recreation enthusiasts and others. We will identify recreation issues and work together, in cooperation with land managers, legislators and the public, to ensure a positive future for responsible outdoor recreation access, now and into the future.
We are asking you to help us restore what it is rightfully yours. Specifically, we’d like each of you to exercise your constitutional rights and express to your elected officials how unhappy you are with their decision to rob from Peter to pay Paul with our gas tax money!
In total, some 32 MILLION dollars have gone to counties across the state for recreational opportunities. Those funds have been used to build boat docks, buy groomers, and build and maintain trails. Our recreational infrastructure is mainly funded by OHV gas tax money. Unless we can convince our legislators to undo the wrong they’ve done, we have seen the last of these types of recreational improvements in our beautiful state. If they don’t fix it, we all lose!
When you call your senator and representatives please leave your name, message, and contact information if you reach a recording. Our message in its simplest form is this…Give us back our gas tax!
Contact Governor Otter at (208) 334-2100
Email: jkreizenbeck@gov.idaho.gov
Map showing Congressional Districts
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/about/idmap2.pdf
List of Idaho State Senators and their contact information here:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/senate/membership.cfm
List of Idaho State Representatives and their contact information here:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/house/membership.cfm
Additional information about why “redirecting” our recreational fuels tax is so wrong can be found on our website at www.id-rc.org. The following are some of those issues you might share with your elected officials:
- We burn 15 million gallons of gas a year in our boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, and motorcycles. We pay tax on every one of these gallons of gas and we EXPECT representation for our taxation.
- If you’re NOT going to continue funding our programs, we want the same opportunity afforded to ranchers, farmers, and loggers and will expect to be reimbursed for the taxes we are being assessed for our non-highway fuel.
- Recreational/Tourism is now the #3 industry in Idaho and is responsible for over $3 billion dollars of our annual economy.
- Recreational fuels tax is the lifeblood of that industry.
- No funding for groomers effectively ENDS snowmobiling in Idaho! Every snow-groomer servicing Idaho’s trails were purchased with this money.
- Even WITH the fuels tax money IDPR only has revenue to fund 1 in every 5 Waterways Improvement Fund grant applications annually.
- While other forms of recreation have become stagnant, Off-Highway Vehicle use has seen an average growth of 12-15 percent for FIFTEEN consecutive years.
When you make contact with these legislators, remember to BE POLITE. They are people just like you and I that happened to make an uninformed mistake with regards to this issue. By in large, MOST of the people who voted to re-direct the recreational fuels tax had no idea for what that money was used. Our mission (and what we’re asking you to help us with) is to educate them on what that decision means to the recreation community of Idaho.
Additional information about why “redirecting” our recreational fuels tax is so wrong can be found on the Idaho Recreation Council website at www.id-rc.org.
Category: Action Alerts
