The individuals, organizations and businesses that use general aviation to increase efficiency and access provide an important lifeline to small towns and communities across America. Now, a new proposal in Congress, backed by the big airlines, would levy a huge tax hike on these small plane operators – grounding many of these planes permanently and causing untold damage in the communities that they serve. These operators provide small towns and communities with critical access to medical care, business opportunities, crop-dusting and emergency evacuation. In fact, small aviation was a critical piece of evacuating Hurricane Katrina survivors. That’s why any proposal for FAA reauthorization must protect access to small towns and communities and not saddle businesses with tax hikes and fees that would impede their ability to operate to and from those areas.

 

If the airlines get their way, they will overhaul the entire system that the FAA uses to collect funds in favor of a radical new scheme called, “user fees.” This proposal would put a huge tax hike on businesses that use small planes, including many new administrative taxes for aircraft registration, pilot certification, and other routine processes. In addition, the airline-backed plan would triple the fuel tax currently paid by general aviation - raising the tax on aviation fuel to $.70/gallon up from its current rate of $.19 on average. All of this would add up to a tax hike on small plane operators into the billions, while the airlines would score another in a long line of government tax breaks and giveaways.