The liberal Washington Post complains:

There’s a 7.5 percent federal tax on every airline ticket. The money goes into a fund that pays for the air transportation system: airports, capital improvements and the operation of the Federal Aviation Administration.  …

When the airlines kept ticket prices down by shifting $12.8 billion to baggage fees, they also saved almost $964 million in federal taxes they would have owed if they had hiked ticket prices by that amount.

via The Washington Post.

What crap.

First let’s take a look at the real story when it comes to airline taxes:

– September 11 Security Fee: A September 11 Security Fee of $2.50 USD applies per flight segment (maximum charge per trip — $5.00 USD one-way, $10.00 USD round-trip). A flight segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing.

– Passenger Facility Charges: Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) of up to $18.00 USD may apply, depending upon the itinerary chosen.

– Federal Excise Tax: A 7.5% domestic tax is applied to the airline base fare. The tax may be pro-rated for flights to/from the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Alaska and Hawaii, and some international destinations. A Travel Facilities Tax of $8.40 USD per direction also applies to flights to/from Alaska and Hawaii and the 48 contiguous U.S. states or between Alaska and Hawaii.

– Federal Domestic Flight Segment Fee: A federal domestic flight segment fee of $3.80 USD applies per flight segment. A flight segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing.

Looks like the G is getting more than it’s fair share of the airline travelers’ dollar.  The money collected — and wasted — by the TSA and FAA is staggering.  It’s no wonder that back in March the Orlando Sanford Intl. Airport was choosing to opt-out of using the TSA for security screenings.  Regardless of how they spend it, the government is taking plenty of money from the airline traveler.

Also, let’s take a look at the wording of the story.  The newspaper writes, “When the airlines kept ticket prices down by shifting $12.8 billion to baggage fees, they also saved almost $964 million in federal taxes….”  Wrong!  The airlines didn’t save anything; the consumer saved.  This sentence should be written, “By shifting $12.8 billion to baggage fees airline passengers saved nearly $1 billion in taxes that the federal government would have otherwise imposed.

The headline of this story should be, “Shifting fares to fees permitted $1 billion in extra air travel last year.”  Air traveler the big winner.

Further, the baggage fees were NOT paid by everyone.  If you travel light and didn’t check a bag you paid nothing.  If you needed to check a bag, then you paid for the service you received.

The whole situation seems very fair to me.  That the government is out the money is just icing on the cake.