[paulk]

The feds obviously don''t need the money from the proposed reimposition of this tax. They''re givng all the money they can to the people who would be buying new boats with it. (Yesterday''s NY Times op-ed page mentioned how some 1% of the population would be getting a yearly tax break of almost $100,000 each, while half of us will be getting less than less than $100. This is going to stimulate the economy, because no one ever buys boats built in Thailand or Europe, either. If they do have to single out one industry to pick on, doesn''t it make sense to single out the smallest one? You certainly don''t want to pick on the RV group-didn''t they just get themselves exempted from having to reconfigure all their propane gas tanks, the way we sailors had to? They''re much too organized, savvy, and big. It''s the (select your favorite whipping boy: Democratic/Republican/Liberal/Conservative/Facist/Survival of the fittest/cost-effective/consumer-benefit/ecological/efficient or only) way!

P.S. Since when did the Federal Government worry about how what they did affects local or state revenues or budgets? For example, the much-touted "No child left behind" law requires states to test kids all the time. So each state has to pay to print thousands of tests. Each state has to pay to give the test. (So teachers now get to be test monitors, instead of teaching. Is this effective use of tax dollars?) The state then gets to pay for correcting the tests. (Again, do you want the teachers to correct the tests, or do you want your children to learn something?)
The REAL test comes at the next election. If we''re not all smarter by then, we deserve what we get.