>In any case, it is absurd to pay 25 to 30 percent taxes >on an airilne ticket. The money doesn't go to the aviation >industry - it goes, for the most part, to the general fund. Government provides a service. FAA has its obligations to the people who work the ATC, work the lines, etc. $3 fees per segment go to the FAA fund that has accumulated close to $3bil. since the start of that program. The airline that hates more than anyone else is Southwest because it hurts them the most. If I am flying SEA-BWI with stops in SJO, SAT, MCI,CMH etc. then I'd rather fly SEA-<insert the hub>-BWI and pay almost the same, even cheaper. If the $3 wasn't there, I would still pick the second choice over the first one anyway.. >No country ever taxed itself into prosperity. The taxes are way to high. >Between federal and state income taxes, gasoline tax, sales tax, airline >ticket taxes, telephone taxes (which should have gone away a long time ago >because their purpose (to give phone service to rurual America) is no longer >needed), >alcohol taxes, cigarette taxes, double taxation of dividends, death taxes, >etc., etc., etc., you are lucky it keep 40% of your salary. Unless, of >course, you are on welfare in which case everyone else is giving you a free lunch. >David R there is no free lunch.. There is no free government either. US has one of the lowest tax rates in the G-7 countries. On top of that, no any other country gives $300 bil. worth of tax cuts to rich, while people busting their asses get almost nothing.. BAHA Fan of Mr. Buffett saying "with $30,000 that she makes, my secretary deserves a tax cut more than she does."..