Free Republic

Biden: Charging Corporate Jets $100 Take-Off and Landing Fee ‘Not Class Warfare’ By Penny Starr September 30, 2011 (CNSNews.com) – Vice President Joe Biden said charging corporate jets a $100 fee to take off or land at U.S. airports “is not class warfare” but a “reasonable” way for executives and corporations to help pay for policing American communities. “If corporate jets just paid a $100 fee every time it took off or landed in America, that would raise $11.5 billion,” Biden said, adding that the money could be used to “make sure the streets are safe.” “So folks, this is...

Democratic politicians and liberal groups, including unions, often rail against corporate tax loopholes as unjustified raids on the public treasury – as they should. Loopholes are particularly troublesome during periods, such as this one, when state and local budgets are leaking red ink and basic public services are being slashed. But one multimillion-dollar loophole draws vocal support from those who usually oppose corporate tax breaks – one that happens to benefit a heavily unionized industry whose top executives are overwhelmingly Democrats and contribute lavishly to the party's candidates and causes. That would be Southern California's movie and television production community....

Reacting to last night’s GOP presidential debate, the White House said today that the 2012 candidates proved themselves to be out of touch with Americans by saying they would refuse to accept tax increases as part of a debt deal. In Ames, Iowa last night the candidates were asked if they would refuse to accept a budget deal with a 10-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases. All eight presidential contenders raised their hands. “That’s clearly not where the American people are,” Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters today. “That basically puts these candidates in a position...

Walter Williams‘ latest column probes the historical record of recent government attempts to “tax the rich.” Specifically, Williams looks at the impact of an attempt in 1990 to impose a 10 percent luxury tax on yachts, private airplanes, and the most expensive cars. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Back then, Congress told us that the luxury tax on boats, aircraft and jewelry would raise $31 million in revenue a year. Instead, the tax destroyed 330 jobs in jewelry manufacturing and 1,470 in the aircraft industry, in addition to the thousands destroyed in the yacht industry. Those job losses cost the government a total of...

Barack Obama, who rails against tax breaks for corporate jets, flies in the biggest jet of all – a Boeing 747 (commonly but not accurately called Air Force One. Fact is, any Air Force plane transporting the U.S. president gets the Air Force One designation for air traffic control purposes. But in this blog, I will accede to the common usage. Air Force One will be Obama’s Boeing 747.). Now the numbers: – A new Boeing 747-8 costs $320 million – Hardened to withstand missile attacks, tricked out with weaponry of its own, festooned with the latest encrypted communications technology,...

...Obama will hold a news conference on Wednesday morning at 11:30am EDT, giving reporters the chance to ask....

Feingold, McCain, Lieberman Introduce Resolution to Reverse FEC’s Action to Gut Corporate Jets Provision. WASHINGTON, DC – A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation to reject a Federal Election Commission regulation that would effectively gut Congress’ work to crack down on Senators accepting rides on corporate jets. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the FEC’s decision and require it to redraft the regulation. In the regulation published in the Federal Register on December 7, the FEC undermined Congress’ decision in 2007 to...

The Gulfstreams and Learjets carrying the top brass of the media world into the mountain resort of Sun Valley for an annual business retreat won't be getting the white-glove treatment. Like ordinary small planes heading in and out of the small airport on some of its busiest days, corporate jets will have to wait in line to use the one runway surrounded by 8,000-foot-high mountains. The Federal Aviation Administration has decided to scrap restrictions that would have thinned out the number of planes traveling through Friedman Memorial Airport on Tuesday, the retreat's opening day, and July 10, the day after...