The Bush administration, which is supposed to believe tax cuts are the miracle cure for literally any problem, is, in a manner of speaking, recommending a tax increase for the millions of Americans who buy airline tickets.
A fee charged to airline travelers to help pay for airport security would more than double under President Bush’s spending proposal for the Homeland Security Department.
Bush’s plan calls for boosting the security fee from $2.50 to $5.50 for a one-way airline ticket and from a maximum of $5 to $8 for multiple legs. The hikes are expected to generate $1.5 billion.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Some minor little fee is going up a few bucks and to call this a “tax increase” seems kind of unfair. While this point is not without merit, I’d like to respond by noting that, by Republican rules, this has to count as Bush raising taxes.
In 1992, when Bill Clinton was taking on the first President Bush, the BQ92 campaign and the RNC released an alleged list of 128 tax increases Clinton created as governor of Arkansas. The list was painfully ridiculous — even by Republican standards — and included some taxes that were counted multiple times. As Michael Kinsley noted, the list even included “an extension of dog-racing season, on the logic that a longer season meant more tax revenue.”
But more importantly, the Republicans’ list of 128 tax increases also included, you guessed it, any and all fee increases from the state of Arkansas during Clinton’s tenure. If the state fishing license went up one penny, Republicans insisted that counted as a tax increase. In fact, the smear on Clinton included (#92 out of the 128) a $1-per-conviction court costs fee imposed on convicted criminals. Bush and the RNC insisted that this fee — $1 on criminals — was further proof that Clinton was a serial tax-raiser.
With this in mind, the increased fee on airline tickets is obviously a tax increase if we play by Republican rules. Good for the goose…
Post Script: For that matter, it’d be downright hilarious to me if congressional Dems announced their opposition to this fee increase, saying that American air travelers “are already taxed enough.” I bet the White House would drop the security-fee plan in a heartbeat.