Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) expressed concern that the White House’s continued push to alter depreciation schedules is harming jobs. During a March 3 hearing, Moran encouraged Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to visit Wichita to gain an understanding of the importance of the general aviation manufacturing sector.
“Too often the general aviation sector is highlighted as just something for the wealthy,” Moran told the cabinet secretaries, and said the administration has continually made accelerated depreciation for business aircraft “[a] topic of how we are going to get the wealthy.” In the last several budget requests the White House has proposed extending business-aircraft depreciation schedules to seven years. The administration has long characterized the current five-year schedule as a tax “loophole.”
But Moran warns that such talk has ramifications. “The ability to buy an airplane is so important….It’s not just an issue of wealth; it is an issue of 32,000 jobs in Kansas,” he said, and when the issue is raised it has both psychological and economic consequences. “I would love for this topic to be a lot less political or rhetorical.”
Foxx expressed interest in following up on the invitation to visit Kansas.