I just saw this article in Bloomberg about Obama wanting to tax corporate jets and private planes an additional $100/per flight. Sure it’s a small amount but that’s beside the point. It’s easy to rag on “corporate jet” owners, but one thing stuck out from the article.
The main rational for charging the $100/flight is that “General aviation users currently pay a fuel tax, but this revenue does not cover their fair-share use of air traffic services.” Basically commercial airlines pay $1,300 – $2,000 in taxes to cover the air-traffic controllers, but private jets only pay $60. Okay fair enough – basically it costs the system the same for a jumbo jet as it does corporate jets, so they should pay the same amount. Rational principle.
But why isn’t this principle carried over in taxation? Doesn’t anyone see the hypocrisy in their argument?
The top 5% pay 60% of federal taxes. Does providing billionaires government services cost more than the ordinary man? Do billionaires really cost the government more? Do roads for them cost more? Does their national defense cost more? Why should they pay taxes at a higher rate?