The Middle Seat regularly covers the airline industry. This installment tackles taxes and air travel:
The federal tax on cigarettes is 9%, yet the federal government taxes an airline ticket at 7.5%, plus a $3 federal tax on each flight segment, plus a $2.50 per segment security charge. Then there are international arrival and departure taxes of $13.20 each way, a $6 immigration fee, and that’s before local airports get to add passenger facility charges of up to $4.50 per boarding.To be sure, airlines and airline passengers need to pay for many of the services they use. But much of what they are paying for now goes beyond air service. Airport security now is a national security issue — we don’t want airplanes used as weapons of mass destruction.