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It looks as though congress passed this legislation about a week ago (H.R. 2881 FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007) and Bush has said he will sign it before 1st October deadline. According to a press release from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:
The U.S. based airline ticket taxes are set to expire this Sunday 30th of September. Evidently our legislators in D.C. haven’t completely taken action on this expiration… |
We are talking about tens of millions of dollars a day in taxes including:
- 7.5% US Ticket Tax (applied to all U.S. domestic airfare)
- $3.40 Flight Segment Tax (charged for each takeoff and landing)
- $15.10 US International Departure Tax (charged for U.S. based international departures)
- $15.10 US International Arrival Tax (charged for U.S. based international arrivals)
This revenue, while collected by the airlines is destined for the government, so it really doesn’t have much monetary effect on the airlines, other than probably causing a rush to buy airline tickets.
It would seem doubtful, that revenue intended for the FAA and this most pressing time — based on the recent increases in flight delays and cancellations (a much discussed topic even by our president), would be allowed to lapse.
Putting this into perspective on what taxes we pay on an airline ticket — a $200 out the door roundtrip (connecting) airline ticket today, would in theory cost approximately $175 after midnight on Sunday — for every airline ticket sold that departs/arrives from/to the U.S.
Oh well, no tax break. Besides, I bet the carriers would have raised fares to keep the reference price the same.
Comment by David M. — September 28, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Yeah right the government give a tax break! Come on, the need another 50 billion for the war, opps I mean occupation of Iraq. The airlines are in so much trouble they need all the help this break might have boosted the flights for them, oh well guess we will never know. Sorry for whining.
Comment by jason — September 28, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
I frequently fly to the UK and mainly use US Airways, for no other reason than they offer a direct flight from my local airport. I have tried to shop around and on base prices can see huge savings. However when taxes etc are calculated all the fares seem to come within $20 - $30 of each other.
Some charge as little as $150 whilst others have up to $400 in extra charges. But when all is calculated they all arrive at a similar price to the consumer.
My belief is that the taxes and fees part of the cost is being manipulated as some ebay sellers do with delivery charges.
Is there a tax chart of charges I wonder. In all my flights I have equaled the US Airways price but never really beaten it by much to be worth the hassle of all the changes. Lets hope Open Skies will achieve clear pricing.
Comment by Andrew Leonard — April 3, 2008 @ 8:42 am