Air travel ticket taxes paying for small, private-jet oriented airports
The Associated Press put together a report with new information on where billions of the air travel ticket taxes and fees go. About $7 billion of the $104 billion collected since 1997 goes to airports “used mainly by private pilots and globe-trotting corporate executives,” says the article.
“They’re making out like bandits,” said Bob Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Foundation in California and author of several studies on air- transportation costs. “It’s not only that airline passengers are paying more than their fair share, but they’re being overtaxed to give private jets a free ride.”
And on the other side of the coin:
Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association, which represents 8,000 operators of private jets and other aircraft, said all Americans benefit from the growth of small airports. They aid emergency preparedness and critical services such as medical evacuations and mail delivery, he noted.
The kicker’s at the end, though: “The FAA released a study in February that said it cost $2.4 billion just to provide air-traffic control for private and corporate planes in 2005. The industry contributed $516 million in fuel taxes that year.”
» Read the whole article, “Air taxes for many aid stops for few,” here
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