By Bob L.
10/10/2011
So much for a President that wants to 
creat jobs, he is nothing more than a Tax and Spend, Ooooh that is exactly what he called Bush, Oooh gee the dirty pot calling the kettle dirtier, or is it the other way around.
Is Obama really trying to create jobs, OR is he more interested in getting a Second Term, and the hell with the American people, and telling them to get off their ASS and get a job so he has more money to spend.
Obama says that Military and small piston plane are exempt, but how about Air Force One and all the planes that go with it are all private and should be classified as Corporate Jets, and taxed as so.
Under Obama, we have Auto, Banks, Healthcare, now Airlines, and what ever I am forgetting, it is time to CAN, DUMP, THROW OUT, what ever you call it, this DICTATOR and his CZARS before they Owns every thing and we can’t get away from their Control of America.
========================================================================================
Kelly Phillips Erb, Contributor
9/28/2011
I hate to fly.
There. I said it.
It’s not a phobia or anything. I just find the whole experience grossly
unpleasant from start to finish. I can’t figure out ticket prices to save my
life. I don’t like being treated like one of a number of cattle. And I hate the
whole nickel and dime pricing system from bags to sodas. If I’m paying $500 to
get from Philadelphia to Raleigh, I feel like the airlines can spare a can of
Diet Coke.
And it appears that things are going to get worse.
President Obama has suggested increasing the cost of tickets by tacking on
extra taxes and fees. Specifically, Obama has suggesting implementing a $100 fee
for commercial planes and corporate jets (military and small piston engine
planes excepted) as a sort of “take off” tax – every time they take off.
Additionally, Obama wants to raise the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) per passenger security fee to $5 per leg with an additional bump of 50
cents per year from 2013 through 2017.
The plan is intended to help shrink the deficit and the President is
justifying the tax by saying that corporations need to pay their fair share
(*turns head and coughs*). But c’mon. It would be easier to ask you and I to
write a check directly to the Treasury since the taxes and fees will clearly be
passed along to customers. USAir and the like are hardly going to suck up the
additional costs.
The extra taxes and fees aren’t likely to sail through a Congress generally
concerned about the public’s reaction to touching their pocketbooks. So, for
that reason, I expect a significant push back on the $100 take-off tax. But the
security taxes might be an easier sale: both Republicans and Democrats tend to
support measures associated with boosting Homeland Security. In fact, a key GOP
leader, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) had made noise about such an increase before, as
part of his 2012 budget proposal. The point of contention on Obama’s proposal?
The increase won’t actually be completely allocated to Homeland Security (it’s
for deficit reduction, remember?) and the Department of Homeland Security would
separately be allowed to raise rates anyhow.
As you can imagine, the airlines aren’t happy. Currently, federal taxes and
fees in the US make up about 20% of the cost of a typical $300 ticket, according
to the Air Transport Association. The ATA argues that higher taxes and fees
will discourage travel – a fact that I normally agree with except that the
airline industry wasn’t so quick to drop their prices during the FAA flap
earlier this year. When faced with the prospect of lower taxes on tickets, the
airlines simply increased their fares to make up the difference… so much for
worrying about the cost of travel, huh?
My prediction, for what it’s worth, is that you’ll get the Homeland Security
fees and only a part – if any – of the “take off tax.” It’s not a battle that
Obama really wants to fight in an election year when he’s already targeting tax
increases (especially among the “job creators“). So why pick it in the first place? Airlines
have been a favorite whipping boy of the President lately due to the fall out
over the corporate jet exemption because folks tend not to
empathize/sympathize with those “fat cats” who we imagine to be toasting their
good fortune. Especially when the rest of us can’t even get a lousy bag of
pretzels.
Related articles
- U.S. Airlines Lose Effort To Avoid Paying European Pollution Tax (jonathanturley.org)
- Obama: Corporate Jet Taxes, Airline Passenger Fees To Aid Deficit Reduction (huffingtonpost.com)
- Airline groups oppose fees in Obama’s deficit plan (seattlepi.com)
Americas Dream 
Recent Comments