For Immediate Release:
February 13, 2012
Contact: Devin Osting (202) 223-9523
Alliance Denounces Inclusion of User Fees in the President’s Budget
Washington, DC – Today, the Alliance for Aviation Across America issued the following statement in response to the inclusion of a $100 per flight/user fee tax in the President’s FY 2013 proposed budget plan:
“On behalf of thousands of small businesses, charitable groups, flights schools and communities around the country that depend on general aviation, we are deeply disappointed in the President’s inclusion of ‘user fee’ taxes in his FY 2013 budget proposal. For these businesses and communities, which represent the backbone of our economy, an added per-flight user fee tax would saddle these organizations with a huge, unnecessary tax burden at a time when they are already struggling to recover from the economic downturn.
“Additionally, the creation of a new SKY-R-S tax collection entity within the FAA would run counter to the President’s goals of lessening government spending and bureaucracy. And, rural communities which rely heavily on general aviation and smaller airports for a host of important resources and services, including commerce, agricultural use and other services, would be disproportionately impacted by this dangerous proposal.
“It is for all these reasons and more that Congress has repeatedly decided that any revenue collected should be done so through the existing fuel tax mechanism, which is efficient and easy to use.
“We urge Congress to reject user fees in any form and look forward to working with the President and Congress on these and other issues important to small businesses and rural communities that depend on general aviation across the country.”
Formed in 2007, the Alliance for Aviation Across America is a non-profit, non-partisan coalition of over 5,700 individuals representing businesses, agricultural groups, FBO’s, small airports, elected officials, charitable organizations, and leading business and aviation groups that support the interest of the general aviation community across various public policy issues.
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