There is an excise tax on fishing equipment, gas, and other fishing supplies, all this money goes to fishery restoration. It is called the Dingle-Johnson Act.

I think that most people don't mind paying the entrance fees to get into the parks or resivors. My biggest concern is camping fees. Particular this new reservation system. For every reservation that is made a company in Maryland gets 4 dollars off of the top of the camping fees. so if it costs 25 dollars to camp a nite, the state is only getting back 21 dollars if a reservation is made.

Before the reservation system, say at summit lake people would pay from wednsday to sunday so they could have a spot for the weekend. this would be for 15 dollars a nite. 60$

Now with the prices raised you can rent for the weekend for (last year)46$ and the campground sits vacant all week for the most part.

This also cuts down on say Retired RV Club members who like to rent 10-15 sites for a week. Now they only stay for 2 or 3 days.

I believe Missouri has a quarter % sales tax that funds either their DNR or their State Parks. I'm not sure which it is. This was voted on by a referendum. The only problem with this is whether or not the powers to be can keep their fingers off the money. I have no problems if professionals manage a certain fund and determines what is spent and where it is spent. But this never happens. I think that if money goes into a fund and is only used for that purpose then you might not have a problem when these funds are raided to shore up a budget or something else.

catfish