Fri, Jul 15, 2011
Influential Newspapers Aren't Buying Obama's
BizJet-Bashing
To what has to be the relief of the folks at NBAA, at least two
national news publications in the US appear to understand that
when President Barack Obama takes a political cheap shot at
companies operating business aircraft, he is being cynical at best,
and wildly hypocritical at worst.
The Washington Post Business section carried an Associated Press
article Wednesday which notes, "Most business aircraft are made in
America, and the companies and unions that produce them don’t
appreciate the president’s rhetoric or his plan to raise
taxes on private jet owners. They fear that both will hurt sales,
costing them even more jobs."
Noting the proposed end for accelerated tax depreciation, put in
place by Obama's own stimulus effort to pump some adrenaline into
one of America's last manufacturing industries, would raise only $3
billion over the next decade toward the $4 trillion in deficit
reductions required, the article exposes the rhetoric as a tactic
to portray Republicans who oppose tax increases as defenders
of the rich.
A more tongue-in-cheek approach was taken in a recent piece by
Rich Karlgaard in his "Innovation Rules" column in Forbes. He notes
that President Obama's personal 747, also known as Air Force One,
likely cost a half-billion dollars to buy, and the National
Taxpayer’s Union found that Air Force One costs $181,000 an
hour to operate. Karlgaard points out that while he only gets paid
$400,000 a year, the jet perk is worth something like $100
million.
Karlgaard concludes, "You are right, Mr. President. Let’s
end this tax break for corporate jets. Which means, you pay up, Big
Guy! You owe the IRS roughly $35 million a year for your personal
jet."
We hope Rich isn't holding his breath.
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