Federal Fuel Taxes

[tombuch 0]

Some of you may not be aware of it, but there is a move afoot within the federal government to change the way aviation is taxed, and to pass more of the actual expenses directly to the users. Currently, general aviation (including skydiving operators) pay a federal tax for each gallon of fuel we burn. The tax rate is listed as 21.8 cents per gallon for jet fuel (turbine airplanes like a Twin Otter) and 19.3 cents per gallon for avgas (piston airplanes like Cessna 182’s).

As skydivers we probably take advantage of fewer services than most airspace users. At The Ranch, my home drop zone north of NY City, we rely on radar reports from NY Approach and Boston Center for every flight, and use flight service for some basic weather functions. We also rely on FAA inspectors to keep the aircraft and pilot parts of the industry safe, and FAA cartography to produce the charts that other GA pilots use when flying near our depicted drop zone. When our aircraft are not actually flying jumpers, they move between drop zones in all sorts of weather, generally under the watchful eyes of controllers. Our airport is a small private use facility that has never received FAA funding, or improvements paid for with federal taxes.

Overall, the skydiving industry doesn’t use much in the way of FAA services, but we would be hard pressed to jump safely without federal oversight and ATC support. So, what does that actually cost us? Using a fuel burn of 24 gallons per Otter load (estimated 22-25 gallons per load, a jet fuel tax rate of 21.8 cents per gallon, and an average load of 20 jumpers) we pay a total of $5.32 in federal fuel taxes for each load. That’s 26 cents per person, per load. At The Ranch, our average club member makes about 60 jumps per year, paying an annual federal fuel tax of about $15.60. A more hard-core skydiver who averages 300 turbine jumps a year pays about $78.00 in federal fuel taxes for his use of the FAA services.

So I guess my sense is that the fuel tax is a workable means of taxing GA users, and given how little it actually costs us, I think skydivers get a pretty good bargain. I can’t imagine that a system based on user fees would generate enough in taxes to even cover the expense of collection, unless of course the costs to the user were increased dramatically!

Let’s all keep alert for rumblings within the political system regarding discussion of “user fees” for general aviation. It’s a bad idea. The United States probably has the most efficient aviation infrastructure, and it’s provided to us as citizen-owners of the airspace. Let’s hope we can keep our direct costs as low as they now are, and avoid the administrative nightmare of user fees.
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Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[kallend 1,625]

No kidding! Have you seen the user fee structure in Europe?

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Beerlight 0]

In for a penny, in for a pound.

I'll definitely keep a watchful eye on the feds. Politicians are trying to charge for general aviation services more and more. One day (unless we take a stand) I imagine I'll get charged when I file a flight plan, another charge to use tower services, another for departure and approach.....

Not directed at you Tom, but I don't LIVE in Europe. And I don't care what Europeans pay. U.S. services are FREE and I wish to keep them that way..... my $.02

Buck Buchanan

[tombuch 0]

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Not directed at you Tom, but I don't LIVE in Europe. And I don't care what Europeans pay. U.S. services are FREE and I wish to keep them that way..... my $.02

Buck Buchanan

Well, our services are actually not free, and that's an important point. The general public benefits from the national airspace system, just as they benefit from our highways. The overhead costs should be covered with general federal revenue, and the costs specific to a user should be covered by that user. Right now, the user component is paid for with fuel taxes (GA) and passenger ticket taxes (commercial aviation). We are paying for the services we use, but that tax is mostly invisible to us.

Changing the way we are taxed by adding direct user fees for specific services will make the costs of those services more obvious, but will also discourage the use of safety critical services. I don't mind paying for the services I use, and the fuel tax seems like a simple way to do that. The aviation tax system is however, a huge political issue that pits big corporate users like airlines against small users like skydivers. We need to keep on top of this issue as individuals, and as a national group (USPA). We also need to be educated throughout so that we can contact our representatives in Congress/Senate to support our current fuel tax system, and avoid the direct user fees you are complaining about in Europe.

Umm, Buck Buchanan, eh? I was a little Buck way, way, way back in the day.
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Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[kallend 1,625]

It seems the FAA is now running a misinformation campaign to get support for the new taxes.

www.aviationacrossamerica.com/pubs/Setting_the_Record.cfm

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Eule 0]

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It seems the FAA is now running a misinformation campaign to get support for the new taxes.

There is a slightly more recent thread (also started by Tom) with more sources of information.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[tkhayes 126]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2693514;search_string=bill%20nelson;#2693514

And I started this link as well. Dropzone need to do the same, contact their jumpers, their local base of skydivers and start writing letters. Bill Nelson said in a recent speech that this bill for the add-on increase in fuel taxes may well go out the door. As he said "File 13".

That does not mean they will not come up with some other tax or fee based on whatever they want.

Stay on top of this. AOPA is very involved and is a good source of info on who to write and when

TK