FET Kiddie Exemption

Jerry Dishion 2005

Hi Folks,

I expect that everyone by now has heard about the tax relief in the Bail out bill that eliminated the tax on “Kiddie Arrows” that was passed by congress and signed by the President on 10-3-08.

I want to explain to you what this really means:

First of all Rose City Archery does NOT get any money from this elimination of the tax on “Kiddie” arrows. What happened is that in 2004 the congress passed new legislation on the archery industry on the way that FET (Federal Excise Tax) is collected. In this legislation the congress did not include the provision that exempted the “Kiddie” arrows, so these arrows were taxed just like adult Target and Hunting arrows, this was a mistake. Historically “Kiddie” arrows have been tax exempt as they went to schools, Christian camps, Boy and Girl Scouts and organizations like them. As a result of this mistake in the tax hundreds of kids programs were eliminated all over the country and hundreds of people who assembled the arrows lost their jobs. The tax was $.39 at the beginning and is now $.43 and the Kiddie arrow shaft cost $.30 each, actually the shaft sold for $.40 each but here at RCA we reduced the price by 25% to try and save some of these programs, but the tax was enough to raise the price of the shaft where they closed most of the programs anyway.

For four years we (my wife and I) worked our butts off and no one would help us, we tried to get companies and individuals to help with zero luck, everyone we asked for help said “you can’t fight city hall”, but we refused to give up. The ATA was against changing the law as they were the ones who pushed it through; strangely enough the companies who benefited were all board members of the ATA. We didn’t think kids programs should pay tax on learning tools, plus they were no longer being taught the history of archery. The schools were no longer able to teach archery as it was, with long bows and recurves and wooden arrows with feathers. We went to senators and congressmen and got shuffled around until we got hooked up with Senators Smith and Wyden of Oregon and they under stood the problem and they began to fight for the tax to be eliminated from the “Kiddie” arrows and after four long years we got it done. Smith and Wyden deserve a lot of credit for sticking to their guns, they had a lot of pressure from the ATA lobby groups and other senators and congressmen to either stop the bill or change it to include fiberglass. Even with the uproar this has caused all over the world they did not cave so if you have a few minutes, e-mail them and tell them good job.

The moral to the story is that if you believe in something and you are right and you persevere, you (one person) can change the way things work in this country and no where else in the world could this be done.

Please visit Kiddie Arrows & Shafts page

Good Hunting,

Jerry Dishion

PRES/CEO