Political Quotes

On the recordMay 22, 2008
today, along with Senator Smith, I am introducing a bill to exempt wooden practice arrows from the unfair impact of an excise tax designed for much more expensive hunter and professional arrows. The JOBS Act of 2004 changed the tax on all arrows from 12.4 percent of an arrow's value to a fixed amount, adjusted for inflation, that now stands at 39 cents per arrow. Under the prior law, wooden practice arrows that cost 30 cents paid a tax of 3.6 cents. Under the current fixed tax, the same practice arrows are now assessed a tax of 39 cents per arrow, more than doubling the arrows' cost to the camps, schools and Boy Scouts that use them. The fixed tax is suited to the higher cost of hunter and professional arrows, which sell for up to $100 apiece. It is not suited for the less costly practice arrows and these should be made exempt as our legislation would do. The Archery Trade Association, which represents arrow makers large and small, supports this bill and agrees that the newer fixed tax unfairly and unintentionally hurts the makers and users of wooden practice arrows. Moreover, there is a precedent for exempting practice arrows, because Code section 4161 exempts youth bows, defined by their draw weight, from taxes. The Joint Committee on Taxation puts the cost of this arrows bill as $2 million over 10 years.…
Said by
Ron Wyden
Democratic · Oregon

Editor's note · Context

Introducing a bill to exempt wooden practice arrows from an excise tax during Senate floor debate.

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