Here come the user fees

Larry Dighera wrote:


The bill will eliminate the domestic passenger ticket tax


It's the damn airline passengers that necessitate the ATC system in
the first place. What possible motivation could there be to eliminate
airline passengers from paying their fair share of ATC facility and
personnel costs?


Don't worry, when GA is pretty much destroyed in a few years and
gas tax revenues go away they'll be back and revivie the ticket tax.

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:50:50 GMT, ktbr wrote in
:

Larry Dighera wrote:


The bill will eliminate the domestic passenger ticket tax


It's the damn airline passengers that necessitate the ATC system in
the first place. What possible motivation could there be to eliminate
airline passengers from paying their fair share of ATC facility and
personnel costs?


Don't worry, when GA is pretty much destroyed in a few years and
gas tax revenues go away they'll be back and revivie the ticket tax.

You make it sound like the people, by and for whom the government was
created, are powerless to resist this corporate boondoggle.

Find your voice, and shriek the alarm to your federal representatives
and the news media before it's too late.

There are encouraging signs that legislators in both parties are very
cool to the FAA's proposal:

avweb.com/avwebflash/news/User_Fees_Generate_Less_Income_194473-1.html

avweb.com/avwebflash/news/
Congress_FAA_User_Fees_Disturbing_194474-1.html

Google strikes again! Try these links instead:

http://tinyurl.com/24zzka

http://tinyurl.com/yodhpo

Recently, Steve Foley posted:

Does anyone know how to import fuel across state borders?

Sure. Fly to NH, fuel up, fly back. ;-)

Neil

On 15 Feb 2007 09:35:45 -0800, "quietguy" wrote
in .com:

There are encouraging signs that legislators in both parties are very
cool to the FAA's proposal:

avweb.com/avwebflash/news/User_Fees_Generate_Less_Income_194473-1.html



So it would appear:


-------------------------------------------------------------------
AVwebFLASH Volume 13, Number 7b -- February 15, 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...h/806-full.htm

USER FEES WOULD GENERATE LESS INCOME
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194473)
The FAA's proposed reauthorization legislation, the Next Generation
Air Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007 (), revealed
Wednesday, claims a new financing structure is necessary for the FAA
to build an efficient and safe air transportation system for the
future. Airlines and air travelers would pay less, but operators of
business and general aviation aircraft would pay more. "Our proposal
will make it easier for airports, airlines and controllers to keep
pace with the skyrocketing demand for air travel," said FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey, in a news release (). "With over a
billion passengers expected in the air by 2015, we have to act now or
risk gridlock in our skies and on our taxiways." Yet the plan shows
that under the proposed change to user fees, total revenue for the
agency would actually decline. The FAA's data shows that the new
proposal would yield $600 million less in FY2008 than the current tax
structure and over $900 million less from FY2009 to FY2012, according
to Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Aviation.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194473

CONGRESSMEN FINDS FAA USER-FEE PLAN "DISTURBING"
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194474)
The FAA's long-anticipated new funding plan, revealed Wednesday
morning, calls for a changeover to user fees, as expected -- but the
agency ran into immediate and widespread opposition at a hearing ()
later in the afternoon before the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., called the
proposal "dead on arrival." Many on the panel questioned whether the
plan would promote safer skies. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., maintained
that it would, ironically, because it would "rid the skies of general
aviation aircraft." Along with others on the panel, he questioned the
need for drastic hikes in the fuel tax -- from 19 or 21 cents per
gallon to 70 cents -- and called the plan "terribly disturbing."
Questions were raised about why the change to user fees would
apparently result in even less money to support the airspace system,
which already is strained and in need of technological upgrades.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194474

AOPA, NBAA RESPOND TO FAA PLAN
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194475)
AOPA () President Phil Boyer said he was "very encouraged" by the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's reactions to the
FAA's proposed reauthorization blueprint. The hearing featured "a lot
of blunt, outspoken dialogue," he said, and he expects all 535 members
of Congress will closely scrutinize the FAA plan, and consider its
effect on their constituents. The general public may have only a vague
idea of what GA is, Boyer said, but "the members of Congress get it --
they understand GA." And AOPA plans to talk to all of them, one by
one. Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association
(http://www.nbaa.org/), said it's too early, though, to tell the
"overall reaction" of Congress to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey's
proposal.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#194475

"Neil Gould" wrote in message
. net...
Recently, Steve Foley posted:

Does anyone know how to import fuel across state borders?

Sure. Fly to NH, fuel up, fly back. ;-)

Neil




Anyone up there sell mogas?

On Feb 15, 8:50 am, ktbr wrote:
Larry Dighera wrote:

The bill will eliminate the domestic passenger ticket tax

It's the damn airline passengers that necessitate the ATC system in
the first place. What possible motivation could there be to eliminate
airline passengers from paying their fair share of ATC facility and
personnel costs?

Don't worry, when GA is pretty much destroyed in a few years and
gas tax revenues go away they'll be back and revivie the ticket tax.

Amen... traditional supply and demand curve... if you increase the
tax by a factor of 3, the demand will go down. If the demand goes
down by a factor of 3, you haven't increased revenues at all. If it
goes down more than that, you are worse off than before, unless you
believe the FAA will save money not having to service as many GA
planes. I doubt that they will since most of the infrastructure costs
are associated with the airlines and major airports.

On the bright side, think of all the new drag strips, tract housing
and shopping malls that we will gain in place of the small airports
that go away. God knows we need more of those. Maybe a new Walmart
or two as well!

Dean

More news about the FAA's skeptical reception in Congress:

http://www.eaa.org/communications/ea...user_fees.html

No member of Congress seems willing to state it openly but any
proposal to take budgetary authority out from under Congress and give
it to the executive branch is not going to fly (no pun intended) on
Capitol Hill.

Larry Dighera wrote:


Don't worry, when GA is pretty much destroyed in a few years and
gas tax revenues go away they'll be back and revivie the ticket tax.


You make it sound like the people, by and for whom the government was
created, are powerless to resist this corporate boondoggle.


The user fee proposal is dead. There isn't one person in Congress who
supports it.