FAA Funding Debate
AOPA FAA Funding Debate
The Real Impact
The freedom, flexibility, and comparative simplicity that make general aviation in the United States so robust could disappear if general aviation gas taxes are increased dramatically and additional user fees imposed. The experience of other countries has shown that attempts to wring more money from GA through taxes and/or user fees increase costs, add expensive new requirements, reduce flexibility, and fail to provide stability.
The administration's proposed FAA funding scheme wouldn't hurt just GA pilots.
The Real Impact
Increasing Your Flying Costs
The proposed aviation gasoline tax increase from 19.4 to 70.1 cents-per-gallon would have an immediate impact on your cost of flying, of course. Even for a simple training aircraft, direct operating costs would increase at least $5.00 an hour.
Decrease Financial Stability
The FAA has argued that user fees would create a stable source of funding, allowing it to avoid the congressional budget authorization process now in place.
Increased GA taxes and fees would devastate the U.S. economy. Many communities would be cut off from the air transportation system, because only GA serves their airports.
These critical GA functions would be curtailed or eliminated by user fees:
- Disaster relief
- Agricultural applications
- Weather and traffic reporting
- Medical evacuation
- Business travel
- Personal travel
