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Holiday 'Grinch' Taxes Increase Travel Costs
By Christine Hall

CNS Staff Writer

December 19, 2000


(CNSNews.com) - Holiday travelers will give government a big chunk of their travel budget, according to an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Americans for Tax Reform. An average of 41.2 percent of travel costs are actually taxes paid to federal, state and local governments in the form of taxes on purchases of air tickets, hotel rooms, restaurant meals and gas.

By ATR's calculations, a $400 airline ticket would cost just $240 without the federal excise tax, passenger facilities charges, fuel taxes, arrival and departure taxes, air-traffic control surcharges and others. Hotel room taxes can more than double the cost of your stay, according to ATR. There are also 43 different taxes on gasoline, according to the group.

For most Americans, Christmas is a season for giving, said Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party national director. But for politicians, it's a time for taking things away, he said. Think how much merrier Christmas would be if you could visit your family without having to pay a 41 percent tax to greedy government grinches.

Not everyone agrees with ATR's math. Darryl Jenkins, director of George Washington University's Aviation Institute, says the taxes on air tickets are more like 10 percent for the average traveler. The fuel tax is only on general aviation, which is small planes, said Jenkins. Moreover, certain of these things just don't apply domestically, like air traffic control surcharges and agricultural inspection fees, he said.

But Jenkins adds that taxes do put a damper on travel in a slowing economy. In really bad years, these taxes will discourage people from traveling, said Jenkins. This year, with the economy going south probably, those things will hurt.

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