Expired taxes almost opened the door to user fees
AOPA Legislative Action devoted considerable attention during 1996 to keeping the cost of flying down, by stopping or even reversing some of the various ways the federal government tried to squeeze money out of pilots and aircraft owners.
Ironically, the year began with the expiration of the avgas and other excise taxes that feed the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Congress routinely renews the taxes, but it was caught up in the struggle to balance the federal budget. Without a source of revenue, the trust fund's surplus of about $3 billion dropped to nearly zero by summer as the FAA continued to draw on it for airport construction grants, ATC capital improvements, and some of its operating expenses.
It became clear that proponents of a 100-percent user fee-funded ATC system hoped to use the lapse in FAA funding to their advantage. We turned our attention to reinstating the taxes in order to prevent an artificial funding crisis for the FAA. If the crisis came to a head, user-fee supporters could step in and offer their tollbooth-in-the-sky plan as a quick fix.
Legislative Action has been fighting user fees since the Clinton administration proposed them in 1993. The administration — using dubious numbers and doubtful assumptions — claimed that the FAA eventually would face a funding shortfall on the order of $12 billion unless user fees were imposed.
In the midst of the debate over user fees, seven major airlines proposed to replace the current ticket tax with a tax based on seats per aircraft, passengers per aircraft, and miles per flight — shifting their tax burden to their low-fare competitors as an interim step toward a privatized ATC system run by the airlines, with long-term effects that could devastate general aviation.
Finally, in August, a bill to temporarily reinstate the excise taxes was approved and signed.
We also worked on a parallel effort to form a panel that would scrutinize FAA finances. This approach was first advanced by Senate Commerce Committee member Ted Stevens (R-AK) and is known as the "Stevens substitute." At AOPA Expo '96, we presented Stevens with AOPA's Hartranft Award for government service, for his work in promoting the commission.
When the smoke cleared and the 104th Congress drew to a close in October, Legislative Action's efforts on behalf of GA in the United States were very successful. Just before Congress adjourned, it passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-264). The act included all five points of our FAA reform plan and created the National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC). This success went a long way toward taking user fees off the table and preserving the excise taxes as the primary source of FAA funding.
We then turned our attention to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, known as the "Gore Commission." President Clinton created the commission in the wake of the TWA 800 disaster. We urged the commission to work with NCARC on financing issues and presented AOPA's ideas on funding alternatives, including "Linked Financing," which is an excellent example of AOPA Legislative Action's offering proactive alternatives.
While funding issues dominated our agenda, many other important issues required attention in 1996. They included FCC radio station license fees, preservation of Chicago's Meigs Field, and the question of children flying aircraft — which became an issue after Jessica Dubroff's fatal crash in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The AOPA Legislative Action PAC — a separate, segregated fund administered by Legislative Action — provides financial backing to candidates for Congress who support the interests of general aviation. Using contributions given voluntarily by AOPA Legislative Action members (rather than member dues), the PAC backs candidates based on their support of GA and their positions on committees key to GA issues. About 85 percent of the candidates for the House and Senate whom we backed in 1996 won their races, continuing the PAC's high success rate.
The challenges that AOPA Legislative Action faced in 1996 will continue in 1997. We will remain vigilant in the nation's capital to build on our success on behalf of general aviation.
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