Cagle threatens Delta over cutting NRA ties
The conflict could send a state income tax break bill back to Rome Sen. Chuck Hufstetler’s committee for revision.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle threatened on Monday to prevent Delta Air Lines from getting a lucrative tax cut after the company ended its discount program with the National Rifle Association.The jet fuel tax exemption is a key component of the legislation providing the state’s first income tax cut to residents and businesses. Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, said the tax overhaul package was expected to come up for a vote Thursday “but right now the votes aren’t there.”
The measure has already passed the House, but lawmakers in that chamber are also clamoring for Delta to reverse its decision or lose the exemption.
The bill could be returned to the Senate Finance Committee that Hufstetler chairs for amendment — although it’s unclear if Gov. Nathan Deal would back it without the fuel tax exemption.
Hufstetler said there’s a push to eliminate it. However, he said he’d keep the agreement he made to include it if the company either reinstates its partnership with the NRA or ends its association with other politically charged organizations.
“Delta made, I think, a poor decision,” Hufstetler said. “They said they want to remain neutral. But if they’re going to remain neutral, they need to remain neutral on all of them.”
While the General Assembly technically has until March 29 to pass the bill, Hufstetler noted that it affects how people will file their income taxes “so there’s a bit of urgency.”
More than a dozen companies, including Metlife, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Best Western, Wyndham and United Airlines have ended NRA partnerships since 17 students and teachers were killed in a school shooting in Florida.
Delta said in a statement that it supports the Second Amendment and its decision “reflects the airline’s neutral status” in the national debate over guns.
The airline also pointed out that last year it withdrew sponsorship from a theater than staged a controversial “Julius Caesar“production that depicted the assassination of a Donald Trump look-alike.
ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young criticized Cagle’s move and highlighted Atlanta’s status as a finalist for the location of Amazon’s second U.S. headquarters.
“Politicians should not use taxpayer dollars to impose ideological litmus tests and punish organizations that express views that politicians dislike. Amazon should take note,” Young said in an emailed statement.