Influential Newspapers Aren't Buying Obama's BizJet-Bashing

To what has to be the relief of the folks at NBAA, at least two national news publications in the US appear to understand that when President Barack Obama takes a political cheap shot at companies operating business aircraft, he is being cynical at best, and wildly hypocritical at worst.

The Washington Post Business section carried an Associated Press article Wednesday which notes, "Most business aircraft are made in America, and the companies and unions that produce them don’t appreciate the president’s rhetoric or his plan to raise taxes on private jet owners. They fear that both will hurt sales, costing them even more jobs."

Noting the proposed end for accelerated tax depreciation, put in place by Obama's own stimulus effort to pump some adrenaline into one of America's last manufacturing industries, would raise only $3 billion over the next decade toward the $4 trillion in deficit reductions required, the article exposes the rhetoric as a tactic to  portray Republicans who oppose tax increases as defenders of the rich.

A more tongue-in-cheek approach was taken in a recent piece by Rich Karlgaard in his "Innovation Rules" column in Forbes. He notes that President Obama's personal 747, also known as Air Force One, likely cost a half-billion dollars to buy, and the National Taxpayer’s Union found that Air Force One costs $181,000 an hour to operate. Karlgaard points out that while he only gets paid $400,000 a year, the jet perk is worth something like $100 million.

Karlgaard concludes, "You are right, Mr. President. Let’s end this tax break for corporate jets. Which means, you pay up, Big Guy! You owe the IRS roughly $35 million a year for your personal jet."

We hope Rich isn't holding his breath.

FMI: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/24/military-pegs-hourly-air-force-cost-g-obama-sets-travel-record/