Boating Gas Tax Refund - Time to do away with
 

Time to do away with the boating gasoline tax refund system.
Just have the legislature change the law and send the funds from the boating gas tax to Marine Patrol or conservation.
This is an archaic system.
Many don't even know about the refund. Many don't bother.
Yes, there is a hard core of folks that seek the refund.
Just do away with the refund process. Cut the jobs in Concord that have to process the refunds. Send the money to boating enforcement or conservation.
Simple.

You'd still have to fill out some paper-work to get the funds transferred. I'd expect most people would have the opinion "If I'm going to go through the effort of tracking, documenting and reporting this, I'd rather get the money myself."

How about an even simpler solution, stop charging the gas tax at marinas.

I agree they do sell off road deisel wahy not gasoline

Then you'd get people like me filling up a 44 gallon tank in the truck and a 100 gallon Titan tank in the bed. And trust me. I'd find a way to get my truck out there. :D

Simplest way is to stop charging a ROAD tax on gasoline sold at a marina DOCK!

If the marina has another pump that can be accessed by vehicles then let that pump have road tax on it. But if the pump is located at a dock, then don't charge the road tax.

With no road tax collected at the dock, we don't need reports, people to manage it and check on it. and no money going to the government to possible abuse in some way.

If a somehow a small amount of gas gets into a road vehicle somehow, let it be, nothing is perfect! But stop charging the road tax to boats and off road vehicles.

Let's make government smaller, not larger!

I think what they are hoping is that most people won't be bothered to apply for the refund so the gov. has extra taxes. I know I don't bother. I did years ago, but stopped and never did again. And we burn a lot of gas especially with the big boat. I would like to know what the percentage is, but my bet is most people don't apply for the refund.

Sounds like any other .gov operation to me. Put in as many hoops as possible until opportunity costs exceeds total amount given back. :rolleye1:

Speaking of refunds, I'm still waiting for my refund that I sent in back in March. Seems like a good way to discourage people from sending in the paper work. There are better ways but the state would not receive as much revenue.

still waiting too
 

Gas tax paperwork went in around Feb. , still waiting.

Off Road tax
 

The tax refund is really not aimed at boaters. They are only a part of the off road sales. More goes to construction vehicles, farm equipment etc. If you snowmobile or have an ATV, you might also track that and get a refund, but you rarely buy from a dock.
There is a formula in statute estimating the amount of fuel sold and the amount where no refund is requested. The result of that calculation goes to Fish and Game. The rest goes to the general fund, which among other things, supports the Department of Safety and the Department of Environmental Services. These two departments are pretty interested in safe, clean lakes.

A few years ago, there was a requirement to file for these refunds quarterly. That meant, for example filing June 30 for that one spring fill up that month, and three more times throughout the year. HB1418-FN changed that to the April 15 deadline. That was the same bill that made it possible to donate your refund to the Navigation Safety Fund or to Lakes Preservation.

The quarterly filing for trucks, etc. meant getting your big refunds sooner and I think that remains in place.

I buy my gas for my PWC at gas stations. I keep those slips and also send those in with my other receipts from marina's.

Government at Work
 

What surprised me (and maybe it shouldn't have) was when I sent my refund paperwork in before the end of the year. I got it all back with a letter telling me that I couldn't submit it before January 1st. Do you think it might have been more efficient for the state to just hold the papers and process them after January 1st?

Efficient Government?
Falls into the same category as Military Intelligence, or Jumbo Shrimp. An oxymoron.

Good point as is the thread about not charging tax at Marinas. Off-Road gas can be dyed differently which will show on an inspection (just like o/r diesel and farm fuels). Keep in mind though, that most fuel used in boats (IMO) is bought at gas stations.

Switching to a mileage based tax for highway fuel would solve these problems but raise other issues.