Jet fuel tax breaks lead to Ga. debate

A bill to eliminate Delta Air Lines’jet fuel tax breaks “violates federal law and puts the state at risk of losing critical funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.” — Trebor Banstetter, Delta spokesman, on Feb. 2.

A handful of state lawmakers are pushing to end tax exemptions on jet fuel that have added tens of millions of dollars to Delta Air Lines’ bottom line for nearly a decade.

They have introduced House Bill 175 to eliminate the exemptions first given to the hometown carrier in 2006. That was when Delta was headed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

A similar measure was proposed late in the 2014 legislative session but died.

Delta executives are fighting to stop this year’s bill. They fares.

Trebor Banstetter, a Delta spokesman, said the bill, sponsored by state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, and others, “violates federal law and puts the state at risk of losing critical aviation funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.”

Ehrhart’s bill would reinstate taxes on jet fuel used by Delta, sending the proceeds to

PolitiFact call it a tax increase, likely to be passed on to consumers through higher air- Throughout the week the AJC and its PolitiFact partners test the truth of statements. For previous articles, see our premium website, myAJC.com.

And in a separate, smaller poll conducted by 20/ 20 Insight LLC and commissioned by Franklin Communications, 63 percent say they’d approve the referendum if voting today. Around 20 percent of Atlantans said they are opposed to spending the funds, and 15 percent are undecided or have no opinion.

Cabral Franklin — son of former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin — said he was surprised nearly two-thirds of Atlantans support the measure, especially as Reed hasn’t yet launched a full messaging campaign on the issue.

“That’s a big number,” Franklin said. “That’s going to be hard to defeat no matter what you do.”

The biggest threat to its passage, if any, Franklin said, is that the city hasn’t yet finalized a project list.

It’s been well over a year since Reed announced plans to tackle a portion of the city’s billion-dollar backlog of needed roads, bridge, sidewalk and building maintenance fixes in his second term. Still, the city is vetting and whittling down a behemoth list of proposed projects.

A few possible expenditures go beyond road paving and sidewalk maintenance. The city could spend millions on public art and a natatorium.

District 7 Councilman Howard Shook said he wants the administration and council to approve a final list as soon as possible. The city’s only hard deadline to do so is before Atlanta heads to the bond markets for approval, which occurs only if voters approve the measure on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Common sense suggests the public needs to know what the list is before they go to the polls,” Shook said. “The more time there is to consider the list, the more likely someone might be to vote for it.”

Reed spokeswoman Jenna Garland said the administration is still taking input from residents, an effort they began more than a year ago with several rounds of public meetings. The city also created a website last year where residents can comment on the proposals.

The final list will come from the proposed projects, Garland said, with the exception of districtspecific projects that haven’t yet been defined.

District 5 Councilman Alex Wan, head of the finance committee, said he expects a favorable outcome on March 17.

“I think the fact that we are not raising property taxes to pay for it and we’re being thoughtful about addressing the most critical pieces of the backlog (has) really given voters comfort,” he said.

City leaders say that the projects will be completed within five years, pending voter approval.