Airlines seek tax breaks totaling $9 billion a year By Chris Woodyard and Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY Most travelers wouldn't think of airline travel as a vice. Yet the airline= =20 industry says the federal government's taxes and surcharges treat it like=20 one. The industry, backed by a new study, is on a tax-relief crusade.=20 Troubled major airlines, as well as moneymaking low-fare carriers, are=20 lobbying Washington for $9 billion a year in tax relief. They say their tax= =20 and fee burden is higher than on such guilty pleasures as whiskey, beer and= =20 cigarettes. Lifting certain taxes for about a year would help the industry= =20 cope with a potential loss of $11 billion this year if there's a short war,= =20 the Air Transport Association says. Congressional aides say airlines'=20 timing couldn't be worse: They're seeking help when lawmakers are grappling= =20 with a rocketing federal deficit and the unknown costs of a war. The airlines =97 at least the ones losing money =97 are also catching flak= from=20 some lawmakers for letting costs get out of control. The $15 billion aid=20 package the industry received after the Sept. 11 attacks also could hurt=20 airlines' chances of getting more aid. That package included $5 billion in= =20 grants and authorized $10 billion in loan guarantees. Even without war,=20 airlines are expected to lose $6.7 billion this year, the ATA estimates.=20 Airlines lost $18 billion in 2001 and 2002. The proposed "tax holiday"=20 would start with a war against Iraq and continue for a year afterward. The= =20 request covers a range of taxes like the federal ticket tax and the jet=20 fuel tax. Most of the taxes are deposited into the Aviation Trust Fund,=20 which pays for air traffic control and other services that benefit airlines= =20 and travelers. While just about every industry would love their own tax=20 holiday, airlines are trying to make a case that they are overtaxed,=20 especially compared with other industries. Perhaps most galling to airlines is how much their costs have increased=20 following the Sept. 11 attacks. The association estimates that annual=20 impact of post-Sept.-11 security and related policy is $4.1 billion.=20 Federal taxes add $51 to the price of a $200 round-trip ticket, it says.=20 Economist Cliff Winston of the Brookings Institution says most aviation=20 taxes and surcharges make sense as user fees. They pay directly for=20 services related to air travel =97 whether increased security or airport=20 improvements. When business travel was robust and airfares higher, airlines= =20 could pass cost increases straight through to customers. No longer. If the= =20 price of a trip is deemed too high, fliers will switch carriers or not fly= =20 at all. The normally fractured airline industry is putting on a united=20 front in the drive for tax relief. Even the top executives of profitable=20 discounters such as Southwest and JetBlue are making the Washington rounds.= =20 Congress is at least listening, although it's not clear how lawmakers will= =20 address the problem. There is some support for other aid, such as extending= =20 war-risk insurance coverage and paying for additional security costs. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************