League of Rural Voters Statement on Bush Administration's Transportation Budget Proposal

Minneapolis, MN – Neil Ritchie, President of the League of Rural Voters today issued the following statement in response to this week’s release of the Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation budget from the White House, and subsequent hearings yesterday in the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, Urban Development and Related Agencies, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:

"When airlines were deregulated in the 1980s, they abandoned service to many rural communities, and that is why crucial programs such as the Essential Air Service Program and the Small Communities Air Service Program were created – to push incentives for the airlines to provide service to our rural communities.

"Now, the President has released a budget backed by the major commercial airlines that would eliminate funding for at least one of these programs – the Small Communities Air Service Program. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the Administration also backed a radical "user fees" plan pushed by the big airlines that could result in a huge tax hike on general aviation – everything from crop dusters to "puddle jumpers" to aircraft used by small businesses. This hike in taxes would directly offset a tax break for the commercial airlines.

"The big airlines justify this tax break by saying that we need increased funding to modernize the air traffic control system, even through this proposal would not just result in their paying less into the system, but would likely result in less funding coming into the system on the whole.

"This tax burden on general aviation would add up to significant tax increase on each business per plane, grounding many of these small planes and puddle jumpers that are the lifeline to rural communities, and impacting access to specialized medical care, educational institutions, and business resources. Not only that, general aviation played a crucial role in efforts to evacuate Hurricane Katrina survivors and continues to play an important role in our preparedness for future disasters.

"Our politicians often say that they recognize the economic importance of our heartland. It is now time for them to demonstrate that by rejecting this big tax break for the airlines and protecting our rural communities."