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Date Posted: 12:26:02 03/22/05 Tue
Author: Don Johnson
Subject: Bed Tax - smallest amount of government

When guiding on the Kenai River back in 1979 we did not have to pay todays
list of fees and spend hundreds of hours filing papers but now today we file and
pay them even while we can see no clear reason for them.
We are basically still doing the same things in the same places as we did back then
but now we are forced file a paper word blizzard and pay out a thousand dollars to do them.
This is one of the best examples of "regulation creep" as you will find anywhere.
There is nothing like people with good intentions.
There may have been only one or so new requirements per year but in the end they all really start to stack up.
With each newly collected fee someone, somewhere thought that the world would be a better
place because they had their little requirement.
I can see the draining of financial resources but I cannot see the benefits derived from these requirements.
I can see the hundreds of hours of paper work but I cannot see the benefits derived from these requirements.
I can see the monstrous bureaucracy generated but I cannot see the derived benefits.

Kenai river state parks fee--------- $500
Centennial Park boat launch fee----$165
Coast Guard license fee ---------- $100
First aid card class fee ------------- $35
Random drug test fee -------------- $80
CPR classes fee ------------------- $35
State fishing guide license fee--------$50
State fishing operator license fee --- $50
King salmon stamp fee ------------ $10
-------------------------------------------
$1,025

Some thought a Kenai River State Parks fee would be used to prevent nonresidents from guiding on the river.
I have not seen this to be the cases, the Kenai still has lots of nonresident guides.
Some thought a Centennial Park boat launch fee would give us a much better park, I have not seen this to
be the case because the city of Soldotna now uses the revenue to run the city, not the park.
Some thought a Coast Guard license fee would make us all drive boat better, I have not seen
this to be the case, do think drivers licenses force car drivers to drive better?
Some thought a first aid card for guides would somehow make them all save peoples lives,
I have not seen this to be the case because in 24 years of Kenai River guiding, I have never needed this training.
Some thought that having a random drug test for guides would make guides not take drugs thus making
them safer, they were not taking drugs in the first place so how could it make them safer?
Some thought that making Kenai guides take CPR classes would save peoples lives.
In 24 years of guiding I have never needed this training and have never seen any other guide need it.
Some thought that a State fishing guide license would help the state better regulate sport fish guides,
I have not seen this to be the case because these guides are already regulated by half a dozen agencies already.
Some thought that a state fishing operator license would help the state better regulate sport fish tour operators,
I have not seen this to be the case, because these guides are also already regulated by half a dozen agencies already.
Some thought that a king salmon stamp fee would increase the number of king salmon returning to
the Kenai River. I cannot say that the stamp has placed even a single extra king in the Kenai.
This stamp fee has place many king salmon in other areas like Juneau or some other location
but when it was dreamed up by Kenai River locals, it was thought to somehow increase Kenai River king salmon.

I can see the thousands of hours of paper shuffling between people and each guide paying out a thousand dollars
per year to keep the shuffle going. I fail to see that this bureaucracy has done what its creators thought it would do.
The generators of these requirements and fees claimed wonderful thing would result but in each case the
bureaucracy and funds collected failed to do as expected.

We now come to the latest creation of these fishing bureaucrats and it is a BED TAX this time.
This bed tax is now going to somehow make all of our lives better.
Somehow all the revenues collected from a bed tax will be tucked away by the Kenai Peninsula Borough
and then spent to help increase KPB tourism.
I am here to tell you that I have been involved with tourism marketing for over 20 years and
you are not going to see this happen. You may see the money's collected and the resulting
bureaucracy but you will not see additional personal revenues because a KPB bed tax.
This is one of those things you are supposed to just believe in, collect the money and believe.
There really is no way to track any of this anyway so even if a tourist was sent to your business,
you would never know it.

People just don't get it. If you want to increase your business traffic you have to get out there and work.
You have to travel, spend money, advertise, do sport shows, spend thousands of hours of labor and make it work.
There is no "collect someone else's money" shortcut to growing your business. You have to get out there and work.
Yes it may absorb your entire winter marketing your business. Yes you may have to spend a lot of money
attempting to grow your business. Some people are so interested in finding a shortcut that they fail to
understand that there still is "no free lunch". In most cases you get what you pay for and marketing
tourism is no different. If you believe that you can hire someone to market your business better than
yourself, you have a lot to learn about the wonderful world of marketing.
Nobody can sell your business better than you.
The reason this is true is because you have the most to gain or lose.
Anyone you may hire to market your business has less to gain or lose than you therefore
they will not work as hard as you or be as efficient as you. You are your own best marketing tool
and anyone who says that you can hire that job out is just not telling the truth.
Do we need a new tax so we can hire out a job to government which is better done by private business?
The smallest amount of government is the right amount of government and a bed tax is not a way to
get the least amount of government.
It is time for everyone to personally roll up their sleeves and get to work producing if they want their
business to grow.
It is not time to try to figure out ways to force your neighbors to grow your business for you with a new tax.

Don Johnson
ccpwow@gci.net

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