CONGRESSIONAL DISPUTE OVER AVIATION FUNDS MAY SPUR 50% CUT IN TICKET TAX

The new transportation law requires that passenger ticket taxes, which are now 8% of the ticket price, must drop 50% on January 1, 1990, and that the current 12-cent-per-gallon aviation fuel tax must drop to zero unless federal spending for airport construction is increased. The law requires that Congress obligate at least 85% of the money it appropriates for FAA research, engineering and development during Fiscal 1988 and 1989 or else the tax reductions will take place in 1990. Airport improvement funds are drawn from a trust fund, not from general revenues. The trust fund had a surplus of $5.6 billion in Fiscal 1987 and $5.7 billion in Fiscal 1988. Despite the drop in ticket and fuel tax revenues, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the uncommitted portion of the trust fund's cash surplus would fall by only one-third from 1988 to the end of 1993. Other findings by the budget office regarding the aviation trust fund are examined in this article.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1518944
• Corporate Authors:

  McGraw-Hill, Incorporated

  330 West 42nd Street
  New York, NY  United States  10036
• Authors:
  • Mecham, M
• Publication Date: 1988-11-14

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 129,131
• Serial:
  • Aviation Week & Space Technology
  • Volume: 129
  • Issue Number: 20
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0005-2175

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aviation; Fuels; Taxation; Taxes; Tickets
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fund allocations
• Old TRIS Terms: Aviation trust fund; Ticket tax
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Energy; Finance; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00477511
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 30 1988 12:00AM