LAW & REGULATION

Boaters Sue to Repeal Tax: Congress and the Administration violated the Constitution by taxing up to 4.1 million pleasure boats to help reduce the budget deficit, boat owners contend in a lawsuit seeking to void the levy. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee took a step toward revising the fee, voting to apply it only to boats 27 feet and longer. The 395,000-member Boat Owners Assn. of the United States said it sued the government in federal court in Washington because the $718 million that the fee would raise over five years will go into the general treasury instead of Coast Guard boating programs. Although described by Congress as a user fee, it actually is a tax on an arbitrarily selected group--a violation of the Constitution’s equal-protection guarantee, association President Richard Schwartz said.