H.R.2014 summary |
Among the laundry list of items in this bill are measures involving aviation taxes. You can't tell the players without a scorecard, so AOPA Legislative Action has prepared the following table to clarify the bill's major points affecting aviation.
See also AOPALA's issue papers on aviation excise taxes and user fees.
House-passed version | Senate-passed version |
Includes the "Empty-Seat" provision. [FY97-02: $-19 million] | No similar provision. |
Extends current fuel taxes through FY07. [FY97-02: $446 million] | Extends current fuel taxes through FY07. [FY97-02: $446 million] |
Reduces the current ticket tax to 7.5% (from 10%). Establishes a charge (starting at $2 and gradually increasing to $3) for domestic segments of taxable transportation. After year 2002, this amount would be indexed to changes in the CPI. [FY97-02: $25.3 billion] | Extends current 10% ticket tax. Establishes a charge of 10% of the portion of the ticket price attributable to the domestic segment of an international flight. [FY97-02: $25.8 billion] |
No similar provision. | Reduces the ticket tax to 7.5% for segments to and from rural airports [FY97-02: $-134 million] |
Imposes a $15.50 charge for international arrivals and departures. This amount would be indexed to the CPI after 1998. (Currently, there is a $6 international departure tax.) [FY97-02: $6.17 billion] | Increases the charge for flights which begin or end in the United States to $8. [FY97-02: $4.718 billion] |
Makes amounts paid to air carriers for mileage awards taxable at 7.5% tax rate. [FY97: $384 million] | Makes amounts paid to air carriers for mileage awards taxable at 10% tax rate. [FY97-02: $512 million] |
Extends current air cargo tax. [FY97-02: $1.88 billion] | Extends current air cargo tax. [FY97-02: $1.88 billion] |
Dedicates the current 4.3 cent/gallon of tax on aviation fuel to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. (Currently deposited in the General Fund for deficit reduction.) [No revenue effect] | No similar provision. |
No similar provision. | Clarify tax treatment of skydiving flights as noncommercial aviation. [Negligible revenue effect] |
No similar provision. | Eliminates double taxation for certain purchases of aviation fuel from fixed-based operators. [Negligible revenue effect] |
Additional resources of interest:
U.S. Library of Congress Web site (track the current status of legislation here)
U.S. Senate Web site
U.S. House of Representatives Web site