USER FEES, TAX HIKES INCLUDED IN BUSH'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

 President Bush released his fiscal 2008 budget proposal on February 5, and it's just as bad as AOPA had predicted: tax increases and user fees for general aviation. "That's why we've been lining up opposition to it in Congress. It's going to take an all-out fight by the aviation community to defeat this," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. Bush's $2.9 trillion spending plan would radically alter the funding mechanism for the air traffic control system and slash airport funding by $1 billion. The president's budget sets the tone for the FAA's coming reauthorization bill, which needs to be passed into law by the end of September. The bill will determine who pays what and how much the FAA will receive in its budget. "While we won't know the specifics until the actual FAA reauthorization proposal is released later this month, we have strong reason to believe it would increase GA fuel taxes
by nearly fourfold," said Boyer. "As if a huge tax increase isn't bad
enough, the budget makes it clear that the FAA would charge user fees for GA operations in 'the nation's most congested airspace,' which sounds like Class B airspace. And don't think you could get out of paying fees by avoiding Class B airspace." The FAA wants to increase fees for aircraft registration and charge user fees to process pilot and medical certificates.

AOPA Online - For more information on the funding debate, see our special Web pages.