Letter to Senator Baucus in Support of Senate Bill 1722. Designed to Close a Loophole on Imported Archery Equipment.

Dec. 5, 2001

The Honorable Max Baucus
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Baucus:

The 800 members of the Montana Bowhunters Association thank you for introducing S.1722. We are proud of your leadership to correct the problems caused by the 1997 amendments to the archery equipment excise tax.

As you know, those amendments taxed the components of arrows – shafts, fletching, points and nocks – but not finished arrows. This has allowed importers and foreign manufacturers to escape the tax. This discrepancy may lead domestic manufacturers to move offshore, compounding the loss of revenues for wildlife conservation. Immediate action is required to prevent the loss of domestic jobs and funding for State fish and wildlife agencies.

There is an immediate need for closing the loophole on imported arrows. Between 1997 and 2001, archery imports (mostly finished arrows), increased from $113,000 in 1997 to $2,600,000 in 2001 to date. Domestic manufacturers cannot compete with imports that have a 12.4% price advantage. Unless the loophole is closed this year, we will lose our domestic industry.

The bill you introduced which closes the loophole on imported arrows, exempts youth bows from the tax, and corrects the misclassification of broadheads is strongly supported by the Montana Bowhunters Association, other sportsmen’s groups, and the Archery Manufacturers and Merchants Organization. We support closing the loophole and reclassifying broadheads in order to protect domestic manufacturing and exempting recreational bows from the tax as part of our effort to introduce young people to archery.

We appreciate your personal attention and the dedication of your staff to solving these problems. In particular, Pat Heck on your committee staff has done an excellent job representing you. We recognize that you are working on a major economic recovery bill and appreciate your taking the time to resolve our problems. We strongly urge you to include the provisions of S.1722 in a bill that becomes law this year.

Thank you for your support and leadership. Please let us know if you will be able to solve this problem.

Sincerely,

Mark Baker, President