Proposal Would Strike Travel Tax From Senate FAA Reauthorization Bill

On Tuesday, the Alliance for Aviation Across America called upon the Senate Commerce Committee to adopt the Nelson-Sununu amendment, which would strike the “user fee” flat tax from S.1300, or the Senate Commerce Committee bill for FAA reauthorization.

"We applaud the Nelson-Sununu amendment, which strikes the regressive, 'user fee' flat 'tax from the Senate Commerce Committee bill for FAA reauthorization.  This provision would harm small businesses and towns across the country, while the big, commercial airlines would be awarded a huge windfall." 

The Alliance also says the Nelson-Sununu amendment corrects the misguided notion that, when it comes to air traffic control, a "blip is a blip" -- that all aircraft, regardless of type or size, should be taxed identically.

"This 'user fees' tax codifies the misguided notion that a jumbo jetliner carrying 300 passengers should be taxed at the same amount as a small aircraft carrying five people," the group states.  "Not only that, it would require an entire new federal collection bureaucracy within the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) just to administer this tax.

"This is even though the FAA itself has admitted that is the commercial airlines that drive the vast majority of the air traffic costs with their complex hub-and-spoke system," the Alliance adds.

FMI: www.aviationacrossamerica.org