Delta tax cut stripped from Ga. bill after NRA feud

ATLANTA — Republicans in the Georgia legislature took a step Wednesday toward fulfilling the

GOP lieutenant governor’s vow to punish Delta Air Lines for severing business ties with the National Rifle Association. But a Democratic rival warned the political threat could be illegal.

The Republican-dominated Senate Rules Committee cast a non-unanimous voice vote Wednesday to strip a sales tax exemption on jet fuel from a larger tax bill, which now goes to the full Senate. Atlanta-based Delta stood to save tens of millions of dollars annually as the biggest beneficiary of the fuel tax break.

The move came two days after Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle threatened to kill the tax break for Delta. Cagle and other GOP candidates to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal next year have been united this week in attacking Delta ever since it announced it was ending the travel discount program it had offered to NRA members.

The airline’s recent decision to cut ties with the NRA comes after a deadly school shooting in Florida had prompted Cagle to tweet Monday that he would “kill” a proposed tax exemption benefiting Delta unless the airline reverses its stance. Georgia officials have been working behind the scenes ever since to try to reach a resolution between Republican lawmakers, Delta and the NRA.