Will Obama be the end of General aviation

[dennyleeb]

With his proposed $100 user fee anytime a flight is in controlled airspace. Does not say if class E is also included. Sounds like he is going to do the same thing as he does with appointments ( no congressional approval) something he said he was so against a few years ago

http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2012/120113white-house-aviation-user-fee-response.html

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: Will Obama kill general aviation

With his proposed $100 user fee anytime a flight is in controlled airspace. Does not say if class E is also included. Sounds like he is going to do the same thing as he does with appointments ( no congressional approval) something he said he was so against a few years ago

http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2012/120113white-house-aviation-user-fee-response.html

I should point out that Robert Poole of the libertarian Reason Foundation has been advocating aviation user fees for years. Has Obama suddenly become a libertarian - or could it be that this is an election year and this is being used as a populist appeal? The constant reference to corporate jets might be a clue.

As a libertarian I have no philosophical objection to paying for services I use. Unfortunately when government is involved, there is no natural market mechanism available on the supply side (in this case ATC) that keeps it in check - particularly since any funding shortages can be made up via other tax revenue streams. So if they inadvertently squeeze GA traffic down so that even large fees can't make up the difference, they are unlikely to cut expenses or drop the fees as a private organization would have to do.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: Will Obama kill general aviation

?
really, it is nice to say that you are libertarian but are you even listening?

I was merely making an observation. Obama is a center left liberal, and so any noises he makes that make him appear to be something else are ephemeral political posturing.

A user fee already exists in the form of aviation fuel taxes, as has already been mentioned elsewhere, so I'm not sure what else you are suggesting by your question.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: Will Obama kill general aviation

either we stay with our socialist system of public airports, operated with public funds or we move to the right, a free market system of all privatized pay as you go airports. . I wish some of you would make up your mind. Do you hate socialism and want user fee's. Or you like our current socialist system of public airports? Dave

Public access doesn't mean public funded. Prior to the Great Depression airports were entirely privately funded.

Quite a few publicly owned airports are self-funded to a great extent, via usage fees and aviation fuel taxes. I believe municipalities are loathe to subsidize airports from general funds. (Last I checked the local airports weren't making tiedowns and hangars available for free or at less than cost.)

So I don't think there is any socialism at all in involved using the word as Marx or Lenin would understand it.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: Will Obama kill general aviation

last I heard most airport improvements w came with %50 matching FEDERAL funds. Dave

Those AIP funds are collected from the following sources:

• 7.5% ticket tax
• $3.60 flight segment tax
• 6.25% tax on cargo waybills
• 4.3 cents on commercial aviation fuel
• 19.3 cents on general aviation gasoline
• 21.8 cents on general aviation jet fuel
• $16.10 international arrival tax
• $16.10 international departure tax
• 7.5% “frequent flyer” award tax
• 7.5% ticket tax at rural airports
From:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40608.pdf

Traditionally, the revenue from those sources into the Federal trust fund exceeded the money being granted. Only since September 2001 has that situation reversed somewhat, though the balance was still positive as of 2009, according to the document I linked to.