After a lapse of two months, the federal aviation ticket tax has been reimposed again through Sept. 30, 1997. The 10 percent ticket tax, which raises about $500 million a month, funds the Airport Improvement Program that makes grants to county and other local government airports for infrastructure improvements, such as runways and terminals. Because Congress had allowed the tax to expire for a second time in the last year on Dec. 30, 1996, the balance in the Airport Trust Fund had decreased from $11 billion to $4 billion.
Over the next seven months, before the tax expires again, Congress will continue debating the issue of how to raise revenue for the Airport Trust Fund.
On one side of the debate are the newer budget airlines and the general aviation community which want to continue the ticket tax. Opposing them are some of the larger, well-established carriers which want to replace this tax with a series of user fees, such as per-passenger and per-mile levies.
Another proposal being considered is a fuel-use tax. NACo continues to strongly support a well-funded Airport Improvement Program.