Maritime Industry

This fact sheet responds to congressional concerns about the total number and amount of user fees, taxes, and other charges, excluding fines and penalties, that have been levied on the commercial maritime industry. GAO identified 12 federal agencies that levied a total of 117 diverse assessments for total collections of nearly $12 billion in fiscal year 1991. The assessments were intended to generate revenue or reimburse the agency for expenses incurred in providing a service. This fact sheet discusses in detail the agencies and their assessment activities, the payors of assessments, assessment amounts and totals collected, exemptions from assessments, and proposed assessments. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Transportation: Federal Assessments Levied on Commercial Maritime Industry, by John H. Anderson, Jr., Associate Director for Transportation Issues, before the Subcommittees on Coast Guard and Navigation and Merchant Marine, House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. GAO/T-RCED-93-24, Mar. 25, 1993 (14 pages).

GAO found that: (1) in fiscal year (FY) 1991, 12 federal agencies levied 117 assessments that totalled $11.9 billion; (2) the assessments were to generate revenue or reimburse agencies for expenses incurred for various services; (3) in FY 1989, FY 1990, and FY 1991, the government collected $1.8 billion, $1.9 billion, and $1.9 billion, respectively; (4) projected collections for FY 92 are estimated at $2.1 billion; (5) amounts collected for Customs duties were several times greater than the amounts collected for other assessments; (6) of the 117 assessments, 92 were specific to and paid only by the maritime industry, while the remaining assessments were for other modes of transportation; (7) in FY 91, administrative processing and associated services collections totalled $521 million, physical services collections totalled $481 million, tax collections totalled $513 million, and miscellaneous services and Customs duties collections totaled $10.4 billion; and (8) vessel owners or operators paid the majority of taxes levied on the commercial maritime industry.