GA's biggest threat makes landfall
User fees and tax hikes in president's budget
President George W. Bush
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
For months, AOPA has felt the tension in the calm before a federal funding hurricane. But now with the release of the president's fiscal 2008 budget proposal on February 5, that storm has taken shape and is gathering energy: Tax increases and user fees for general aviation are now upon us.
"This is real, and it's just as bad as we thought it was going to be," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "That's why we've been aligning opposition in Congress. It's going to take an all-out fight by the aviation community to defeat this."
Boyer isn't wasting any time. He'll continue his extensive round of meetings with lawmakers and be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. This dovetails AOPA's press conference with reporters last week.
President Bush released his $2.9 trillion spending plan in four massive volumes. The overarching philosophy is to increase military spending while squeezing the rest of the government. Unfortunately, the proposal would radically alter the funding mechanism for the world's largest, safest, and most successful air traffic control system. If that were not enough, the budget would slash airport funding by $1 billion. President's budget sets tone for upcoming battle...
(February 5)
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Clearing smoke, breaking mirrors
AOPA tells reporters what to watch out for on user fees
The Bush administration won't have a chance to obscure the issue of aviation user fees in the president's upcoming budget submission to Congress. That's because AOPA took a preemptive strike, briefing key reporters in the nation's capital about how to find the secrets in the budget when it is made public on February 5.
"The administration is manufacturing an FAA 'funding crisis' in a smoke-and-mirrors attempt to divert attention away from the real issue — the need to address the problems that constrain capacity, efficiency, and new technology adoption," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
"They are attempting an end-around of Congress to put the world's safest, most efficient, and largest air traffic control system into the hands of airline barons who've flown their own businesses into bankruptcy," Boyer said at the National Press Club on February 1.
And taking Congress out of the mix would be a very bad idea, according to Ken Mead, the former Department of Transportation inspector general who joined Boyer at the podium.
"You need the checks and balances of the U.S. Congress," said Mead. He recalled that Congress had shut down the microwave landing system and the previous attempt at modernization — the advanced automation system (AAS) — when it had spun out of control and gone well over budget.
"I had to testify more times than I can recall on AAS," said Mead, "and it is a fact that it was stopped in its tracks by the checks and balances of Congress." No "funding crisis" — the money will be there...
Photo: AOPA President Phil Boyer.
EAA Opposes User-Fee Proposal/Fuel Tax Hike Included In DOT/FAA Budget Request
Tue, 06 Feb '07
What the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and other general aviation groups had been predicting for months became fact today, as user fees were a centerpiece of the Fiscal Year 2008 budget request from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.
EAA immediately reiterated its strong opposition to any user fees, as the budget proposal includes the framework to establish a user-fee program for various aviation services; a nearly four-fold increase in the fuel tax paid by general aviation operators (avgas and autogas); and a series of fees for access to the nation's busiest airports. It would also transfer control of agency funding and oversight away from Congress and dramatically reduce public control of how the FAA exercises its discretionary spending.
"DOT and FAA have attempted to distract from the user fee issue in their public statements by saying that revenue from general aviation would continue to be collected via a fuel tax, but they failed to acknowledge that the fuel tax would be increased dramatically and a whole series of user fees would be implemented for FAA services that today do not carry a charge," said Doug Macnair, EAA Vice-President of Government Relations.
"EAA remains categorically opposed to user fees. Such a system will not enhance safety, it will not improve services, and it will add barriers for thousands of recreational aviators while being a costly burden to the federal government."
The budget proposal calls for increased and or the establishment of fees for aircraft certification and registration, as well as appointment and designation of designees such as those used to certificate amateur-built aircraft and light sport aircraft, and airman medical certificates.
While EAA has strong indications of what the Bush Administration is proposing, the details of the new user fee and tax hike proposals will become publicly available when the FAA reauthorization bill is submitted to Congress in mid-February. EAA and the other general aviation groups will continue to fight this effort to burden individual aircraft owners with this new expense.
"It is an ironic twist that while DOT Secretary (Mary) Peters said the budget proposal as a whole will 'help get our freedom back' in the nation's transportation infrastructure, it severely threatens the freedom of our country's general aviation community," Macnair said.
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