Congress's Air Tax: An Unfair Proposition?

JetBlue Is Against the Proposed Tax Hike

According to BlueTales, on a $300 round trip ticket 20% of the cost, on average, does to fees and taxes imposed upon the aviation industry. Currently flying is taxed under the same sinful area as tobacco and alcohol. Now, Congress is proposing a 100% increase on a TSA tax, from $2.50 to $5.00 and the White house is in support of tripling it. This increase is meant to tackle budget deficits, but has no actual correlation with increased security or personnel hires within the TSA.

A few facts about the current situation:

• From 2007 to 2012, the TSA budget increased 19% even though the number of screens performed dropped by 11%.
• The aviation industry is subject to 17 different federal and state taxes.
• Last year passengers paid nearly $2 billion in security taxes when flying.

Is there a lot more to this than meets the eye? That always tends to be the case when it comes to politics and matters of policy. In this case though, this seems to be a transparent grab at funding increasing for an arm of the government whose usefulness has already been called into question in recent years despite more and more money getting pumped into the TSA's coffers. There is no apparent or explicit benefit that we, as passengers, could be gaining by this increase in security tax. It puts strains on the already fragile airline industry, drives up already expensive ticket prices, and sets a dangerous precedent for future moves of similar nature. 

If you'd like to speak out to your representative about your feelings on the tax, you can do so easily at Stop Air Tax Now and stand up with Airlines for America, the Consumer Travel Alliance, IATA, ALPA, and RAA to oppose the additional taxes. I have taken the short amount of time needed to voice my opinion and hope you do too! Traveling shouldn't have to be un-affordable by way of taxes and now is an opportunity to prevent rising costs.

 - John