* DID YOU KNOW THIS...? I DIDN'T KNOW THIS...!
Air travel, already plenty taxing, will get even more so
later this month. At least $6 more per round-trip ticket in most cases and the
cost of a nice dinner out in others, despite every effort from the airlines to
stop it.
* AND IF YOU'RE A "BUSINESS TRAVELER"... NO
PROBLEM! JUST ANOTHER WRITE-OFF!
* AND IF YOU'RE WEALTHY... (WELL... THEN YOU'RE
WEALTHY... WHAT'S IT MATTER...?!)
Beginning July 21, the federal Sept. 11 security fee that
helps fund the Transportation TSA will more than double on many new tickets
sold.
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
The fee on a basic domestic non-stop round-trip ticket
will go to $11.20 from $5.
* MORE... THAN... DOUBLE...
* NAH... NO INFLATION HERE! (ANYONE GUESS WE'RE GONNA
GET OVER TWICE THE COMPETENCE... OR EVEN ONE SINGLE, SOLITARY RED CENT MORE IN
"BANG FOR THE BUCK" - SO TO SPEAK - FOR THIS LATEST RAID ON OUR
WALLETS?
A one-way trip will cost $5.60 instead of $2.50 per
flight segment. What's more, the current $10 per-ticket cap has been dropped...
* WHY OF COURSE IT HAS BEEN...!!!
(*GUFFAW*)
...so a trip with multiple stops that last longer than
four hours could see a whopping TSA fee multiplying with each additional leg of
the itinerary.
* HMM...
* YOU... THE SPOUSE... KIDS...
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
In addition, airports are pushing to raise the facility
fee that many charge passengers up to $8 every time you get on a plane, from
the current limit of $4.50 per boarding.
* HMM... "FACILITY FEE." (REMIND ME... WHY DOES
ONE PAY A "FACILITY FEE" TO USE AN AIRPORT... BUT NOT A MALL... NOT A
SUPERMARKET... (OH... RIGHT... BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE A BUNCH OF
SCHMUCKS!)
And Customs and Border Protection has been pushing an
increase in its immigration fee on international tickets, to $9 from $7.
* BUT WE'VE OPENED THE BORDERS! WE NEED TO PAY MORE TO
HAVE OPEN, UNGUARDED BORDERS...?!?!
* A MEXICAN... OR OTHER FOREIGNER... ILLEGALLY CROSSES MY
BORDER AND MY TAX DOLLARS GO TO FEED, SHELTER, AND TRANSPORT THE ILLEGAL ALIEN
TO A CITY OF HIS OR HER CHOOSING; BUT IF I WANNA TAKE MY FAMILY ON AN
INTERNATIONAL VACATION I'VE GOTTA PAY MORE! HOW DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE
SENSE...?!?!
"It seems like a little bit of an onslaught right
now," said Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president for legislative and
regulatory policy at Airlines for America, the airline industry's Washington,
D.C., lobbying group. "Policy makers see air passengers as an ATM."
Travel — airlines, hotels and car rentals — is already
heavily taxed around the world.
* AND IT SHOULDN'T BE! TRAVEL IS ALL ABOUT FREEDOM... AND
AMERICANS USED TO REVERE AND JEALOUSLY GUARD OUR FREEDOM; NOT ANYMORE...
(*SIGH*)
* FOLKS... REQUIRING PHOTO ID TO VOTE RUNS INTO COURT
ROADBLOCK AFTER COURT ROADBLOCK... EVEN WHEN THE IDs ARE PROVIDED GRATIS...
BASED UPON THE SUPPOSED IMPINGEMENT UPON AN UNENCUMBERED FREEDOM TO EXERCISE THE
FRANCHISE. IF THESE FEES AREN'T AN IMPINGEMENT UPON MY RIGHT TO TRAVEL...
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
In the U.S., there are as many as 11 different taxes and
government fees on airline tickets, depending on the itinerary. A typical $300
domestic ticket with a connection includes $61 in taxes and government fees,
and the TSA fee increase will push the tax rate to 27% from 26%.
* FOLKS... GOD ASKS A MERE 10%!
It could be worse: The United Kingdom charges an air
passenger duty that in April rose to as much as $166 for economy-class
passengers and up to $333 for other classes, depending on distance from London
to the destination country's capital.
* UMM... DIDN'T WE BREAK AWAY FROM JOLLY OLD ENGLAND
BECAUSE OF THEIR TAX POLICIES...?!?!
(*SNORT*)
The TSA increase, which won't apply retroactively to
tickets sold before July 21, should raise an additional $12.6 billion over 10
years, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan published in
the Federal Register.
* HELL... WHY DON'T THEY SIMPLY TAKE 10% OF EACH
AMERICAN'S SAVINGS... THINK OF HOW MUCH MONEY THAT WOULD RAISE!
* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... AT A CERTAIN POINT TAXATION
BECOMES LITTLE MORE THAN LEGAL THEFT - EXTORTION - BY GOVERNMENT AGAINST ITS
OWN PEOPLE. (WE'RE THERE!)
The TSA fee hadn't been raised since TSA was created in
2002.
* SO...?!?!
The additional revenue would give TSA "the
flexibility to meet increasing aviation security costs and better aligns the
costs associated with passenger security to the direct beneficiaries," DHS
said in its budget request.
* FOLKS... EVERY TIME YOU READ ABOUT THE TSA YOU'RE
READING TALES OF INCOMPETENCE, WASTE, AND OFTEN THEFT ON THE "FRONT
LINES." IF ANYTHING, WE SHOULD PROBABLY BE DOWNSIZING... OR EVEN GETTING
RID OF... THE TSA. GROWING IT... WITH ALL WE KNOW... IT'S JUST INSANITY!
Congress upped the fee to $5.60, beyond the $5 TSA
requested.
* THANK YOU SPEAKER BOEHNER...
Congress also voted to send much of the increase to the
general fund, not TSA...
* YOU... SONS... OF... BITCHES...!!!
* AGAIN... NOT THREATENING... NOT CALLING FOR ANY LAWS TO
BE VIOLATED... BUT IF GOD SEES FIT TO WIPE WASHINGTON D.C. FROM THE FACE OF THE
EARTH I MYSELF WOULD THANK HIM WITH ALL MY BEING!
...to help reduce the federal deficit.
* THE WAY TO REDUCE THE FEDERAL DEFICIT IS TO STOP
SPENDING MORE THAN WE CAN AFFORD!
* THE WAY TO REDUCE THE FEDERAL DEFICIT IS TO ACT
RESPONSIBLY... RESPONSIBLY ACROSS THE BOARD... NOT PLAYING SHELL GAMES WITH
FEDERAL INCOME AND OUTFLOW!
* SERIOUSLY... PEOPLE... THESE POLITICIANS ARE NOTHING
BUT CON MEN (AND CON WOMEN)! THIS IS WHAT THEY DO... PERPETUATE A MASSIVE SHELL
GAME... PERPETUATE A MASSIVE PONZI SCHEME...
* GOD... SHOULD... SMITE... THEM...!!!
On the whole, passengers pay about 43% of the $5 billion
annual cost of TSA aviation security, according to the agency, so general tax
revenue comes back to fund it. When TSA was established under the DHS, it was
agreed that aviation security was a national defense cost, paid for by all
taxpayers on the ground, as well as anyone who flies.
* SO IF WE ASSUME A LEAST HALF OF THE BUDGET IS WASTE AND
FRAUD...
(*SNORT*)
The existing $10-per-trip cap on TSA fees wasn't part of
legislation and wasn't included in the new fee hike Congress approved. So when
DHS published rules on the new fees, it eliminated any cap.
* BUT... BUT... BUT...
(*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)
Several key lawmakers, including House Speaker John
Boehner, key transportation committee leaders and authors of the legislation in
the Senate and House, have written to Obama administration officials saying
Congress never intended to remove the cap and it should be restored.
* NICE TRY, BOEHNER, BUT I SUSPECT YOU'RE SAYING ONE
THING WHILE FEELING PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION GOES WITH...
er... THEIR OWN BUREAUCRACY'S READING OF THE LAW.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Another increase that airlines have protested: The DHS
rules now levy a domestic screening fee on passengers inbound from other
countries who are making connections, such as someone arriving from Paris in
New York and connecting on to Chicago. That wasn't done before, even though
those passengers do go through TSA screening after clearing Customs. Beginning
July 21, they'll be charged $5.60 for that New York-Chicago flight.
(*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD*)
With the fee increase, Congress also voted to eliminate
the $420 million in annual aviation security fees that had been imposed on
airlines after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
(*BLOOD RUSHING TO MY HEAD*)
But rather than cheering a nine-figure tax reduction,
airlines say they'd prefer to pay directly for security rather than have it rolled
into higher ticket prices. According to the Government Accountability Office, a
non-partisan agency that works for Congress, a 1% increase in airfares equates
to a 1% decline in demand. While airlines have been cutting capacity, demand
for available seats has remained strong and airlines have pushed fares higher.
But airlines think raising ticket prices with taxes will make it even more
difficult to fill seats.
Likewise, airlines would rather see airports pay for new
terminals through landing fees and rents charged to airlines, along with
parking and concession revenue, rather than a Passenger Facility Charge levied
on every ticket.
With airfare, tax increases impact the posted prices
consumers see. With other consumer purchases, prices can be advertised without
including taxes and fees. But the Department of Transportation imposed that
requirement in part because taxes and fees can impact a ticket price so much
and consumers complained about seeing a low price offer and then being switched
to a higher price. In addition, some international airlines excluded a hefty
fuel surcharge of $400 to $700 from advertised base fare prices, even though
the airlines collect that as part of their fare. DOT simplified it all by
forcing airlines to display a bottom-line price prominently. Airlines can show
the tax breakdown, but it must be secondary to the total price.
* FILTHY ROTTEN POLITICIANS...
Airlines are now backing legislation to change that,
arguing the rule lets Congress raise taxes without consumers ever knowing how
big the tax bite is.
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