The Right State

When Congress returns to Washington in a couple of weeks, one order of business is to fund the FAA. The current funding for the FAA runs out September 30 of this year. Congress is still debating the issue in committee with three radically different bills. The FAA currently uses an antiquated system to keep track of all the flights within the US and those coming into the US. A new system is a must if the US is ever going to relieve the problem of congested airports and flight delays. And of course a new system costs money.

To relieve these concerns, the FAA has proposed an alternative funding bill for their funding. Unfortunately, the bill places a tremendous burden of the backs of general aviation pilots while giving the major airlines what amounts to a huge tax break. As of now, the funding for the FAA is paid mostly through taxes on fuel and taxes on passengers. Flying is divided into three groups: the smaller general aviation airplanes (GA), larger GA airplanes and the airlines. Most GA pilots, like me, only hold a private pilot’s license. And when we fly, we fly for fun.

The fuel taxes collected by the government are as follows: GA aircraft using avgas (high octane gasoline) pay 19.3 cents a gallon tax, larger aircraft using Jet A fuel (diesel) pay 21.8 cents a gallon, while the airlines also using Jet A only pay 4.3 cents a gallon. On top of this passengers pay a tax when they buy their ticket.

The bill the FAA desires would increase the tax on small and large GA to 70 cents a gallon while the large airlines would pay nothing. The taxes paid by passengers would increase but it would also be divided up thus obfuscating what the passenger actually pays. At the same time control of the FAA would shift from the federal government to the airlines. This 263% increase in fuel taxes on the average pilot would make flying much more expensive. At the same time the airlines would receive a huge tax break. Also being considered besides the increase in fuel taxes is the institution of user fees. So every time a pilot calls for instructions while in the air, he will be charged a fee. Also included would be other charges like a tie down fee when the airplane is tied down. All of which would remove funding control from Congress and pass it on to the FAA which is dominated by the airline industry.

Explaining the FAA funding bill is difficult and may be even more difficult to understand. So an analogy might be in order. Lets for the sake of the argument compare the FAA to the national highway system. We have large towns and small towns, large vehicles and small vehicles. Also for the sake of the argument let’s say that most of the traffic congestion in the larger towns was due to the larger vehicles from SUVs to large trucks and constitute more than 95% of the traffic. To fund the national highway system, the government collects taxes from the sale of fuel with small cars and small trucks paying 38 cents a gallon (it is the gasoline tax I pay in Texas for my car) while SUVs and large trucks pay only 8 cents a gallon. The government wants to improve the highway system and proposes an increase the taxes on cars to almost a dollar a gallon, while the tax on large trucks and SUVs is to be eliminated. Then the riders traveling in the SUVs and large trucks would be taxed for being allowed to ride in these vehicles. At the same time, cars and small trucks are charged a fee every time they stop to ask directions, they are charged for using stops signs and stop lights (as if the driver had a choice in using them) At the same time, the people who own the SUVs and trucks would be able to raise the fuel taxes on cars anytime they want since they are to be in charge.

All of this sounds a little unfair, right? Well, it is. Most GA pilots I know do not like to fly into these large airports. The airlines will tell you that it is the GA pilots who are clogging up the system, which is an outright lie. In fact, GA aircraft only account for 4% of flights out of these large airports. It is way too crowded with large planes and there are way too many restrictions. So if I must fly to Houston, I fly to one of the smaller airports just outside of Houston Intercontinental. Look out the window the next time you take a flight somewhere, you will be hard pressed to find any small plane.

The next time you fly, be sure to notice if the airline shows you a video depicting how GA is causing the flight delays. Now you will be able to tell those closest to you the truth; flight delays are caused by the incompetence of the airlines. And now they want to shoulder the load of the maintaining the FAA and the aviation upgrade upon the little guys

Tags: Culture //