General aviation organizations are expressing disappointment again with President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 that again includes a $100.00 per flight user fee on general aviation, as well as a change in the current tax depreciation schedule for general aviation aircraft.
Congress previously rejected the $100.00 per flight user fee idea on several occasions, and national general aviation groups will continue to work hard to ensure that this user fee proposal doesn’t see the light of day. An additional user fee – outside the user fees already being paid through federal fuel taxes – would stifle the economy, kill jobs in the private sector, make flying less affordable, and add an entirely new bureaucracy to the federal government at a time when basic air traffic control services have been threatened.
A letter opposing user fees on general aviation, signed by 223 bipartisan members of Congress, and sent to the President in April, mentioned that the President’s proposal should be abandoned once and for all.
The President also proposes to increase the “depreciation recovery period” for general aviation aircraft, from its current five years to seven years, which would have a negative impact on aircraft sales and manufacturing, and counterproductive to President Obama’s economic recovery efforts.
