ABC27 WHTM Proposed tax cut on private planes creates turbulence at Capital

Proposed tax cut on private planes creates turbulence at Capital

If you're in the market for a private jet, you may soon be landing a good deal in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers are considering the elimination of the state's six-percent sales tax on new or used airplanes and parts - and that has created a little turbulence under the dome.

A left-leaning group calls it a tax break for the super-rich and mocked Thursday it during a spoof press conference wearing tuxedoes and furs. One woman called herself Ruth Lesscapitalist.

"I tell you it's class warfare and we're losing," she said. "Like my friend Leona Helmsley said, 'only little people pay taxes.'"

Democrats and Republicans support the sales tax exemption. House Transportation Committee chairman Rick Geist is one of them.

"There's an industry in Pennsylvania and that industry is at a real disadvantage compared to New York, New Jersey and Maryland," Geist said. "We have to make that industry competitive."

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center says the tax break would cost the state treasury $10 to $15 million at a time when programs are being cut.

"It's fundamentally unfair," Executive Director Sharon Ward said. "If you buy a car, even if you buy a clunker, you still pay sales tax on it. Why should people who are buying new private jets get an exemption that middle class families don't?"

While supporters of the bill admit it might look like a bailout for millionaires, they remind us that those who sell airplanes and those who work on airplanes don't wear tuxedoes and furs and they could be losing out.

"Pennsylvania has a lot of fixed base operations and people keep planes here," Geist said. "Why in the heck should they fly an airplane up to New York to get that service when we can do it here?"

The bill figures to circle the airport for a while. It's only gotten out of committee in the House and doesn't appear to be a front-burner issue.