H.R.2014 summary

H.R.2014 is the budget reconciliation bill introduced by Representative John R. Kasich (R-OH) on June 23, 1997. The bill passed the House on June 26 and the Senate on June 27. It's currently in conference committee.

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]

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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