$35 to fish in NH?!?! More fees on the way!

[Quantrill]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061114/REPOSITORY/611140356/1037/48HOURS

In a bid to ward off a $5 million shortfall for the upcoming two-year budget, the Fish and Game Department wants to impose more user fees and take a portion of the state's rooms and meals tax.

Wow.  In MO it's like 12 bucks for a fishing license.  At $35, it makes you feel like engaging in some disobedience!

In New Hampshire, the number of hunting licenses has declined by 25 percent since 1995. Fishing licenses have dropped by 10 percent.

I wonder if these people have stopped hunting & fishing or just stopped buying licenses...

[FrankChodorov]

NH is the only state in  the country that pays for it's state parks and recreational facilities via users fees.

[KBCraig]

There's the classic difference between government and business.

When faced with a revenue shortfall, government wants to raise prices.

When facing a shortfall, a businessman throws a big sale and cuts prices!

[Dreepa]

And they want me to buy a $10 sticker for my canoe!

[Fluff and Stuff]

And they want me to buy a $10 sticker for my canoe!

What the hell?  Please explain this too me.  For just state parks or for all lakes and rivers?  I have never heard of anything like this.

[FrankChodorov]

And they want me to buy a $10 sticker for my canoe!

only if you put it in the water owned in common...

I thought libertarians were for user fees?

[burnthebeautiful]

And they want me to buy a $10 sticker for my canoe!

only if you put it in the water owned in common...

I thought libertarians were for user fees?

User fee's paying for parks is better than taxes funding them, but even better is for the parks to be privately owned and funded in whatever non-force-using way the owner chooses to. I don't understand what there is to pay for with forests though. It's nature, it's meant to exist on its own.

[KBCraig]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061114/REPOSITORY/611140356/1037/48HOURS

Article:

"We're essentially at a turning point where we can't continue to cut and expect to have a viable agency," said Lee Perry, the department's executive director. As a stopgap measure, Perry has asked Gov. John Lynch to set aside $1.6 million annually for two years. Lynch will unveil his proposed budget in February; lawmakers will vote on the budget this summer. The money, Perry said, "will allow us to keep people employed."

...because that's what is important, keeping F&G folks employed. 

But wait, perhaps there is an alternative:

The department was created in 1935 to maintain stocks for hunters and fishermen. But the department's scope has expanded over the years to encompass conservation of wetlands and open space, search and rescue, public education and the policing of off-highway recreational vehicles.

Gee, perhaps the budget alternative should be doing less "stuff", and return to worrying about fish and game!

I'm all for user fees instead of tax subsidies. So, please explain how F&G should take a cut of the rooms and meals tax?

Kevin

[Michael Fisher]

The fees will only get higher unless something is done. Governments have no incentive to lower costs.

[aries]

Simple, our fish are 3 times bigger than in MO

[Dreepa]

And they want me to buy a $10 sticker for my canoe!

only if you put it in the water owned in common...

I thought libertarians were for user fees?

but the river is running fine without any help from the government.

[Dreepa]

I'm all for user fees instead of tax subsidies. So, please explain how F&G should take a cut of the rooms and meals tax?

Not saying I believe this but..... .they say that NH's outdoors brings people to NH and they stay in Hotels and eat so that is why F&G should get a slice.

[anthonybpugh]

Most states set up hunting/fishing license and other things like snowmobile fees to pay for parks, recreation areas, trails and such.  The money collected for such things are supposed to be earmarked only for those types of items.  The problem is that there is nothing prohibiting the state government from using the money collected for those fees and license and using it in the general fund.  it does seem kind of strange that NH doesn't run things like other states tend to do. 

I'd say that they should have devote the money collected from hunting and fishing to only those things directly supporting hunting and fishing.  If they are going to continue doing those other functions, they should fund it through some other means.   

[KBCraig]

I'm all for user fees instead of tax subsidies. So, please explain how F&G should take a cut of the rooms and meals tax?

Not saying I believe this but..... .they say that NH's outdoors brings people to NH and they stay in Hotels and eat so that is why F&G should get a slice.

I figured that was their logic. But the problem is, out-of-staters are already paying more for hunting and fishing licenses. Up to four times as much:
http://wildlife.state.nh.us/Licensing/license_prices.htm

[maineiac]

Why do people continue to deny that government is inequitable, inefficient, and mendacious?

Seriously.