Originally Posted by
bedelman
I see many grounds to criticize fuel surcharges. But when a fuel surcharge is mislabeled as a "tax", I think the critique is particularly compelling. My current plan is to send a demand letter to the US general counsel of the carrier at issue, then to follow up with a letter to the US Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement division. But I would like to offer a specific legal theory here, more specific than the general problem of mislabeling and misrepresentation
Is there some generic law -- perhaps in tax code (either federal or a relevant state's tax code) -- making it unlawful to collect some amount of money as a "tax" when that money isn't being transferred to a government authority? I'm wondering if you could look at this as being more in the "tax fraud" box than in the mislabeling/misrepresentation/false-advertising box. That is, can you analogize your facts to the case where an online merchant is openly charging "sales tax" on out-of-state purchases but not turning any of that "sales tax" money over to the authorities because it has no obligation to do so?
I would also wonder if there's even a private right of action here, or whether the government is the one who ends up enforcing this.