The Pittman-Robertson (P-R) and Dingell-Johnson (D-J) Acts place an
excise tax on arms, ammunition, archery supplies, and fishing tackle.
Currently this amounts to more than $400 million dollars per year.
By law these excise taxes are collected by IRS and invested by the US
Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) prior to their annual distribution to
state fish and wildlife agencies based on the state’s area and the number
of hunting and fishing licenses sold by that state the year before. Each
state has agreed to use their license money only for fish and wildlife
management in order to receive their share of the excise taxes. The Federal
excise taxes, which the state must match, may only be used for wildlife
restoration or sport fish restoration. Since 1937 for wildlife and 1950 for
fish, it has been the responsibility of the FWS to assure that each state
does not divert it’s license money to other things and that the excise
taxes are used only for the purposes stated in the legislation.
Prior to the 1980’s, FWS routinely hired wildlife biologists who had
worked for three or more years for a state fish and wildlife agency. These
biologists composed the workforce of the Division which oversaw the state
uses of P-R and D-J. Their experience and rapport with their state
counterparts when combined with regular visits and "audits" of
each state on a five year cycle was an effective check on the tendency of
state governments to divert these funds to more urgent matters within the
state. Potential diversions were usually nipped in the bud early on and
compliance was quickly restored because future shares of the excise taxes
depended on it.
Two things happened in the 1980’s to jeopardize this arrangement.
First, FWS began to place people with no state experience into these
oversight positions. This was a conscious decision of FWS managers who
began placing females and designated minorities in such oversight roles
because such placements resulted in annual bonuses to FWS managers plus
oversight of state programs was considered a low priority within FWS. Along
with credit for state experience, academic requirements were greatly
reduced or eliminated for such positions. This eventually led to the slow
discovery by FWS managers that when the oversight role was filled by those
who were not committed to the goals of state programs (hunting and fishing)
they were more likely to allow greater access to the money to FWS managers
who wanted to use the excise taxes for Federal purposes, unbeknownst to
Congress or the states. They were then rewarded with bonuses and awards.
This was a contributing factor to the scandal of the late 1990’s where
The General Accounting Office (GAO) found $40 to $50 million dollars had
been diverted from the states and used clandestinely for Federal agency
purposes in a three year period. P-R and D-J were amended in 1999 to limit
the availability of such funds to FWS in the future.
