[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 85 (Thursday, May 22, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S4797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Smith):
  S. 3055. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify 
the rate of the excise tax on certain wooden arrows designed for use by 
children; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today, along with Senator Smith, I am 
introducing a bill to exempt wooden practice arrows from the unfair 
impact of an excise tax designed for much more expensive hunter and 
professional arrows. The JOBS Act of 2004 changed the tax on all arrows 
from 12.4 percent of an arrow's value to a fixed amount, adjusted for 
inflation, that now stands at 39 cents per arrow. Under the prior law, 
wooden practice arrows that cost 30 cents paid a tax of 3.6 cents. 
Under the current fixed tax, the same practice arrows are now assessed 
a tax of 39 cents per arrow, more than doubling the arrows' cost to the 
camps, schools and Boy Scouts that use them. The fixed tax is suited to 
the higher cost of hunter and professional arrows, which sell for up to 
$100 apiece. It is not suited for the less costly practice arrows and 
these should be made exempt as our legislation would do. The Archery 
Trade Association, which represents arrow makers large and small, 
supports this bill and agrees that the newer fixed tax unfairly and 
unintentionally hurts the makers and users of wooden practice arrows. 
Moreover, there is a precedent for exempting practice arrows, because 
Code section 4161 exempts youth bows, defined by their draw weight, 
from taxes. The Joint Committee on Taxation puts the cost of this 
arrows bill as $2 million over 10 years. This seems a small price to 
pay to help wooden arrow manufacturers struggling to stay in business 
in Oregon and 9 other States: Washington, Wisconsin, Arizona, 
Minnesota, Indiana, Virginia, New York, Utah and Texas. I urge my 
colleagues to support reform of the arrow excise tax to help both the 
makers and users of children's wooden practice arrows.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3055

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF RATE OF EXCISE TAX ON CERTAIN 
                   WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CHILDREN.

       (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 4161(b) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to arrows) is amended 
     by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C) and by 
     inserting after subparagraph (A) the following new 
     subparagraph:
       ``(B) Exemption for certain wooden arrow shafts.--
     Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to any shaft consisting of 
     all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means of 
     enhancing the spine of such shaft (whether sold separately or 
     incorporated as part of a finished or unfinished product) of 
     a type used in the manufacture of any arrow which after its 
     assembly--
       ``(i) measures \5/16\ of an inch or less in diameter, and
       ``(ii) is not suitable for use with a bow described in 
     paragraph (1)(A).''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to shafts first sold after the date of enactment 
     of this Act.
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