Ohio repeals onerous aircraft registration tax
Ohio aircraft owners are finally getting tax relief, thanks to a three-year lobbying effort by AOPA. Ohio Gov. Bob Taft recently signed into law the state budget, which includes a reduction of the annual aircraft license tax from a flat $100-per-aircraft to a $15-per-seat fee.
"We are extremely pleased that your administration recognized that the 800-percent fee increase implemented several years ago sent the wrong signal to pilots, particularly in the Buckeye State that proudly calls itself the 'birthplace of aviation,'" wrote AOPA President Phil Boyer to Gov. Taft. "This year's action will help to stimulate and increase the funds available to make safety and infrastructure improvements to Ohio's outstanding network of general aviation airports."
The budget also includes airport capital improvements among the purposes for which the revenues from the tax can be used. AOPA state legislative experts have been working to reduce the tax since 2002, when state legislators increased it by 800 percent. Before the switch to the flat fee, Ohio charged $3 per seat to register aircraft, a fee that hadn't increased since 1941.
July 7, 2005
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