As the representatives of Long Island’s aviation community it is our mission to promote and protect general aviation in our region. We strongly oppose any proposal that places any additional undue punitive burden on our operators while reducing productive flight activity and revenue to our States airports.
Long Island’s airports provide valuable public services to the communities they serve. These airports provide air ambulance services, law enforcement usage, military transport, small package and document delivery, traffic reporting and the training of many student pilots interested in careers in aviation. In addition our airports here on Long Island and throughout the State allow for service to many communities not served by regular airline service which helps to create viable economic activity for those locales. General Aviation airports help to relieve congestion and reduce delays at the major airports. To further tax this industry, which is still struggling to recover, could have devastating consequences that could shutter airports, cost our industry many private sector jobs and create a new bureaucracy that would contribute nothing to our nation’s wealth generation.
Aviation pays its fair share of taxes to help maintain airports and our national air traffic control system. Although some may never use the majority of those airports or the airways we all continue to support them because they are vital to our industry and the good of the public. The system as constituted now with a per gallon fuel tax works and should be allowed to continue as is without the threat of further taxation upon our fragile industry. To allow for the implementation of these user fees and tax per flight is to allow the economic value our industry provides to society in general to be destroyed as we know it. Simply put we can not allow that to happen and we must not allow that to happen.
I ask that you all remain vigilant during this time in regards to this issue and as needed make your voices heard when called upon to your elected officials that you reject the notion of a per flight tax and that their support of such a tax puts your job and those of many other aviation professionals throughout our country in jeopardy. We need government to help create jobs for our industry not put up barriers to growth.
Sincerely,
Eugene Portela
President
Long Island Business Aviation Association, Inc.
Chief Executive Officer
Corporate Service Supply and Manufacturing
