Local-option fuel tax opposed in Massachusetts
AOPA is urging a Massachusetts legislative committee to reject a bill that would allow local communities to add up to five cents per gallon to state fuel taxes, including avgas.
In a letter to the Joint Committee on Revenue, AOPA Eastern Region Manager Sean Collins pointed out to lawmakers that federal grant obligations require that taxes collected on aviation fuel be used exclusively to support the aviation system and airport infrastructure.
The bill, H.2592, clashes with those conditions by empowering cities or towns to deposit locally imposed fuel taxes into a new Municipal Fuel Excise Transportation and Stormwater Fund, and spend the money to maintain roads, bridges, sidewalks, bikeways, or public parking areas; for public transit; or for “costs associated with stormwater management within the city or town.” Unspent tax proceeds would be carried over to following fiscal years.
Collins noted that airports and aviation businesses could be harmed by the measure. Airports compete to sell avgas to aircraft owners, and a local-option excise tax “stands to upset this delicate balance and bring with it potentially drastic consequences” for an airport or fixed-base operator faced with a cost increase caused by a new fuel tax rate.
On behalf of the more than 5,100 AOPA members in Massachusetts, AOPA has recommended that the committee reject the bill, or amend it “to explicitly exclude aviation gasoline,” Collins wrote.
