AOPA asks for moratorium on Florida use tax
By AOPA ePublishing staff
Imagine that you recently bought an airplane and you want to take it on vacation, maybe a family trip to sunny Florida. Think again.
The state Department of Revenue has recently been charging Florida use tax on any airplane that is brought to the state within six months of being bought if the owner did not pay at least 6-percent sales tax at the time of purchase.
AOPA has been working with the Florida Department of Transportation and state lawmakers to resolve the issue. And now AOPA President Phil Boyer has contacted Gov. Charlie Crist, asking him to put a moratorium on the tax until legislators can address the problem, especially with so many pilots about to visit Florida for the annual Sun ’n Fun Fly-In.
In a March 19 letter to the governor, Boyer warned that the aggressive tax enforcement is keeping many general aviation pilots from visiting the state, which typically receives 9 million visitors and $2.3 billion in revenue through GA each year. AOPA Expo is scheduled to be held in Tampa in 2009.
March 20, 2008
