Study Critical of Airlines for $1 Billion in Annual Fuel Tax Relief
Jeff Edwards August 28, 2014
Citing $1 billion in tax breaks to jet fuel purchases, labor union Unite Here is crying foul at airlines that are angling for government tax relief.
A survey conducted and funded by the Unite Here international labor union found that airlines are exempt from roughly $1 billion in state and local excise taxes on jet fuel purchases.
The new data was made available Tuesday on the Unite Here-affiliated 12billion.org website. The figure 12 billion refers to the gallons of jet fuel on which the U.S. airline industry pays no taxes to the states each year.
“This is a lot of money states are giving away in tax breaks … happening at the same time that airlines are saying they are actually overtaxed and are pushing for new tax breaks,” the study’s author, Adam Yalowitz, told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s just a lot of money that taxpayers are losing out on.”
Unite Here’s Airport Group represents 33,000 employees at airport concessions and in the airline catering industry at 75 airports in North America. The union has taken issue with tax breaks for the aviation sector in the past. The tagline of the union-produced study is “Slow the burn. End jet fuel tax breaks” and the website urges readers to contact their lawmakers urging just that.
“Airlines spend a lot of political capital talking about how overtaxed the U.S. airline travel industry is,” union representatives told The Hill on Monday. “Last winter, airline lobbyists passed out vomit bags decrying air taxes to travelers at D.C. airports, and in the last month alone successfully pushed the oddly-named Transparent Airfare Act through the U.S. House and airlines filed suit against the Transportation Security Administration over new security fees on passenger tickets.”
According to the study, California gave airlines the biggest break on fuel taxes, providing $384 million worth of credits. Second was Washington which offered $123 million in fuel tax relief. Third was New York, giving airlines an estimated $115.3 million in tax credits on fuel purchased.
North Carolina also offers among the largest tax incentives to airlines, with an estimated $10 million in state fuel taxes.
American Airlines, earlier this year, began pressuring North Carolina lawmakers to extend fuel tax caps in the state. The airline operates one of its busiest hubs at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and is responsible for nearly 90 percent of the airport’s flights.
Airlines for America (A4A), an airline lobbying and trade organization, dismissed the Unite Here report outright. “No one wins when the industry, our customers and our employees are forced to shoulder higher taxes,” Washington-based A4A told The Hill. “Today, our customers pay more than $60 in taxes on a typical $300 roundtrip ticket.”
[Photo: iStock]
So it's better to charge it to taxpayers, whether they fly or not, than to pass the charges on to the consumers who actually use the airlines? And I'm working really hard to figure out what a 'more competitive' tax base might mean in relation to airlines. I pay taxes willingly. Possibly because I grew up in the seventies. But I don't think it's fair for the little old lady who has never left Pasadena to pay for fuel for aeroplanes that she doesn't use and I do.
It's rich for an organization that enjoys government-enforced privileges (monopoly pricing for its labor, Obamacare waivers, and so on) whines about another group than has done a similar thing.
Maybe they realize that the more tax break corporations get the more taxes individuals end up having to pay to make up the difference?
Airlines for America (A4A) Blog that corrects the record on UNITE-HERE Report... Rethink, Revise, Re-Write With summer coming to an end and students all across the country heading back into the classroom we thought we’d give the good people at UNITE HERE a refresher in checking their work. They recently released a “report” mischaracterizing the tax burden of airlines but, unfortunately, their claims just don’t add up. See More: http://www.airlines.org/blog/rethink-revise-re-write/
WHat the F is wrong with Unions. If the carriers cost goes up, the consumers ticket goes up. US carriers become vulnerable to outside air carriers with a more competitive tax base. Always looking for more money and higher taxs... the same hippies who grew up in the 70s not wanting to pay a dime in tax. #COMMUNISTS