IRS/State tax request for Airplane just flying by?

[JasonM]

Good friend of mine got a letter in the mail from a state he has only landed in 2 times in the past 5 years, demanding he pay a sales and use tax for the airplane that is not even based in that state. Anyone seen this happen? Best we could guess was the state was tracking how often he uses an ARTCC based in that state in route to another state. Am I to expect to see this same stuff? Makes you want to fly VFR with the transponder off if these states are just hunting the ARTCC records to get tax money.

 

[Jim Logajan]

It costs a state millions of dollars to keep an atmosphere affixed to the surface of the earth. And millions to keep the surface of the earth from falling away to the infinite depths of space. In fact there are so many uncountable services a state provides that makes flying possible that I'm surprised anyone would complain about this issue. Just pay the damn taxes and be thankful none of those services are being provided by large corporations.