Increase In Aircraft Tax Deemed "Grossly Unfair"

EAA is working with several of its Ohio Members in an attempt to repeal what has been termed a grossly unfair increase in the aircraft registration tax that went into effect in 2004. The 2003 Ohio Legislature established a flat $100 license tax for all aircraft. That represented a 1600 percent increase for two-place aircraft, which had been $6.

In many ways, the EAA said in a release to Aero-News, this is an economically discriminatory tax, which makes two-place aircraft owners pay the same registration tax as a 15-place business jet. Last year, EAA members and GA aircraft owners in Ohio worked with their local state representatives to introduce two bills (House Bill 518 and Senate Bill 230), which called for a $15 per seat registration tax, but neither bill made it to the floor during the 2004 legislative session.

Over the recent holiday season, as several aircraft owners received their $100 aircraft registration tax notices, the effort began on a new push to re-introduce both bills. EAA is currently working with Board Member Emeritus Jim Gorman, EAA members Donald Peters, Brian Matz, Frank Castronovo, and many EAA Chapter Presidents to get the bills reintroduced. Peters, who owns a Piper J-3 Cub and operates from a private grass strip, wants to mobilize plane owners and aviation enthusiasts to contact their elected state officials to get the new legislation passed.

"We need to get Ohio’s aviation people excited and calling their legislators," Peters said. "$100 for all airplanes is grossly unfair." Light-sport aircraft also are assessed a $100 annual registration tax, he added.

FMI: www.eaa.org