Boyer Calls Funding Plan A "Power Grab"... Kids, The
Gloves Are Off
The Aircraft Owners and
Pilots Association (AOPA) blasted the administration’s
proposed FAA refinancing bill as a "manufactured crisis based on
flawed financial assumptions about the viability of the current
funding system and the cost of the 'NextGen' air traffic control
system."
"Our government is backing away from the safest and most
efficient air transportation system in the world, and setting in
motion the steps towards privatization," said AOPA President Phil
Boyer. "This proposal is nothing more than a cynical attempt to
shift FAA costs to a different set of taxpayers, and to take
control of the agency away from Congress and put in the hands of
unelected bureaucrats and airline executives.
"It doesn’t save money, and it doesn’t make the FAA
more efficient," Boyer continued. "This bill would be disaster for
consumers, general aviation pilots, and all the communities ignored
by the airlines that depend upon general aviation for safety,
commerce, and air transportation."
Senior FAA officials briefed Boyer and other aviation industry
leaders on the "Next Generation Air Transportation System Financing
Reform Act of 2007" Wednesday, prior to releasing the text to the
public.
No justification for change
The FAA has attempted to argue that it needs to change the
financing system in order to pay for the NextGen air traffic
control modernization program.
"We support the need to modernize,
but listen to the weasel words carefully," said Boyer (right).
"They never say that the current, proven tax system can not raise
necessary funds for NextGen."
In fact, AOPA notes, the administration’s bill would raise
less money than the current tax structure -- $600 million less in
the first year, according the President’s fiscal year 2008
budget submission.
The Department of Transportation's own projections show the
current funding system would generate more than $20 billion through
2012 for the FAA’s Facilities & Equipment account. That
would almost double the amount that the FAA has spent on equipment
and modernization over the last five years, and it confirms AOPA's earlier analysis of
available revenues under the current tax system.
And when asked point blank by aviation subcommittee Chairman
Jerry Costello during a hearing Wednesday if the current tax system
could fund NextGen, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey reluctantly
admitted that it would.
"It begs the question, what is the problem we are trying to
solve?" said Boyer.
The administration also claims its proposed financing system
"provides tax relief" -- a claim Boyer called a semantic game,
designed to mislead.
"Whether you call it a tax or a user fee, the consumer --
airline passengers and GA pilots -- still have to pay it," said
Boyer. "The tax burden may shift from one group to another, but the
only 'relief' is from Congressional oversight of an agency that has
a history of overspending and mismanaging large modernization
projects."
The proposal would, in fact, more than quadruple the taxes that
individual pilots pay. Nine out of 10 general aviation pilots have
told AOPA that they would quit flying were taxes to increase that
much... and who knows how many pilots would forego such vital
safety services as flight following and en route weather updates,
if they were required to pay for them.
As also noted also by the National Business Aviation
Association -- which has worked closely with AOPA to
present a united front against the FAA's proposal -- AOPA says the
plan puts Congress in the backseat when it comes to the agency's
largest "line of business" -- air traffic control. The authority to
set user fees and spend money for air traffic control would rest
with the FAA administrator, and the airline-dominated Air
Transportation System Advisory Board.
"As much as I respect Administrator Blakey, I don't believe that
the American public should be comfortable with all of that power in
the hands of one czarina," said Boyer. "This is in essence a blank
check that pilots and airline passengers will have to fund."
And FAA spending can spiral out of control unless held in check
by Congress. "You need the checks and balances of the US Congress,"
said former Department of Transportation Inspector General Ken Mead
recently. He recalled that Congress had shut down the microwave
landing system and the previous attempt at modernization —
the advanced automation system (AAS) — when it had gone well
over budget.
"I had to testify more times than I can recall on AAS," said
Mead, "and it is a fact that it was stopped in its tracks by the
checks and balances of Congress."
Proposal Cuts AIP Funds
The administration also promises its
new FAA financing bill would reduce congestion and alleviate
passenger delays. Yet its proposals cut Airport Improvement Program
(AIP) funding by some 21 percent over current authorized
levels.
"The airlines' hub-and-spoke system frequently schedules more
aircraft than the airport can handle," said Boyer. "No amount of
air traffic control improvement can change the immutable laws of
physics -- two airplanes cannot occupy the same spot on the runway
at the same time. To reduce congestion you must either reschedule
some airline flights to less desirable times or build more runways.
Simple as that."
Who should pay?
The administration contends that the financing system must be
changed because, "taxes paid by users of the system have no direct
link to the costs they impose."
"I can think of no government program in which there is a direct
link between individual taxes and individual costs," said
Boyer.
For federally-funded highways, drivers in more populous states
"subsidize" construction in rural areas. Local roads are frequently
paid for by general taxes, not direct taxes on drivers.
Public education is funded by all taxpayers, not just those with
children in school. In a previous generation, farms were
electrified because the government, not the individual consumers,
paid for it. Our income tax is calibrated not on government
services consumed, but on ability to pay.
"Our current tax system has reliably served the needs of the FAA
for nearly forty years, and it has always provided the money FAA
has needed for rational, well-planned modernization programs," said
Boyer. "We have created the most vibrant, robust air transportation
system in the world, that serves all citizens, pilot and non-pilot
alike.
"If we adopt a user-fee system like other countries of the
world, we'll become just like them," said Boyer. "Average citizens
will no longer be able to afford to fly, many of the services
general aviation provides to rural areas will cease to exist, and
only the rich and the airlines will continue to benefit from the
investments all of us have made in our air transportation
system."