Weight-based User Fee Might Incentivize Smaller Planes

User fees are set by the agency, services that are required
for the convenience of the government are priced by the
government so that all costs are covered. When the number
of users drops, the cost for the agency does not go down
because the equipment and GSA employees are there, so the
cost per user goes up.

User fees will kill aviation. When tax is based on fuel
consumption, the government is forced to live with the
available money, user fees will increase, just bas stamps
will soon cost $0.42.


"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
|
|
| Those advocating Air Traffic Control user fees are
revealed in this
| document:
|
|
| http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05333sp.html
|
| National Airspace System:
|
| Experts' Views on Improving the U.S. Air Traffic
Control
| Modernization Program
|
| April 13, 2005.
|
|
| The suggested initiatives included replacing taxes with
user fees
| based on the cost of air traffic services, allowing the
ATO to
| manage those fees, and giving the ATO borrowing and
leasing
| authority. The panelists advocating these kinds of
initiatives
| said the initiatives would help the ATO address the
predicted
| funding shortfall and free it from the constraints of
the federal
| budget process, as well as enable the ATO to pay for
the technical
| expertise and the technologies it needs to deliver
efficient,
| cost-effective service. In addition, these panelists
said,
| removing the ATO's funding from the appropriations
process would
| establish a direct relationship between the ATO and its
customers
| that could promote efficiencies and improve service.
According to
| these panelists, customers would monitor the ATO's
spending to
| ensure that the ATO addressed their priorities, and the
ATO would
| provide better service because it would try to please
the
| customers rather than the appropriators who now fund
its
| activities. Restructuring the financing of the
modernization
| program could streamline and strengthen the ATO's
management, they
| said. According to these panelists, this kind of
financing
| arrangement would allow program managers to make
decisions
| quickly, on the basis of business rather than political
| considerations, and could provide the ATO with the
management
| tools needed to fully execute its mission. While not
disagreeing
| with the potential benefits of the proposed structural
changes,
| other panelists cautioned against investing too much
effort in
| them, since, in the view of these other panelists, the
changes
| were, for the most part, politically infeasible.
Moreover, as one
| panelist noted, even if the structural changes were
implemented,
| it would be important to consider what problems they
were creating
| as well as what problems they were addressing. He
suggested,
| for example, that a weight-based user fee might
incentivize
| smaller planes and more planes, thereby having the
unintended
| effect of increasing demands on the ATC system's
capacity.
| Finally, one panelist said, restructuring could resolve
the
| conflict of interest inherent in FAA's dual
responsibility as the
| regulator and the operator of air traffic services.