Clayton will get most state funds from Georgia jet fuel tax cut

Delta Air Lines is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the decision, although other airlines and cargo companies will save money as well. Total savings to those businesses are expected to be more than $20 million a year.

Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday that the move by the state would help ensure Georgia doesn’t lose federal transportation funding in the future because it didn’t comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

“Georgia has taken critical action to ensure our federal funding is not jeopardized and local governments that rely upon local jet fuel sales tax are made whole,” Deal said.

Clayton County, the home of Hartsfield-Jackson, will receive almost $27 million of the $28.3 million the state is allocating to reimburse counties.

Commissioners there are expected to vote on accepting the money Tuesday.

“We are not going to fight it, nor are we going to contest his signing of the executive order” to end collections, Turner said. “I see that as a big step on the governor’s behalf. He could have just signed the order.

“It is not what we would have chosen. We would have chosen to collect $9 million (in collections) for several years,” he added. “Some money is better than no money.”

The move comes three months after state lawmakers killed a broader fuel tax break after Delta ended a discount program for National Rifle Association members. Delta made the announcement a few weeks after a mass shooting Feb. 14 at a Florida high school.

The state's announcement also comes on the heels of an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to dismiss a lawsuit by Clayton to uphold airport fuel tax collections that the FAA questioned.

Clayton and its school district split $18 million annually from fuel taxes levied at Hartsfield-Jackson. But the FAA last year indicated it could begin enforcing a policy it upheld in a 2014 decision prohibiting the use of taxes collected at an airport for any purpose other than for the airport.

Deal had proposed early in the 2018 session that the state reinstitute a state and local sales tax exemption on jet fuel, which would have saved airlines, cargo companies and others more than $50 million a year.

However, once Delta broke with the NRA, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a leading Republican candidate for governor, promised to kill the exemption. He found heavy support among GOP lawmakers, who hold an overwhelming majority in the General Assembly and generally back the NRA’s positions.

Cagle, currently in a runoff campaign for the Republican nomination, said Monday: “My position on the underlying issue remains the same. That said, the issue at hand is compliance with federal law, and Governor Deal has been clear that we have no other option.”

Any sales taxes approved before Dec. 30, 1987, would still be collected on jet fuel, as would the state sales tax. For many counties, that would cut the local rate on jet fuel to 1 percent. Clayton would have no local sales tax on jet fuel.

Delta on Friday promised to help local school districts affected by the latest tax cut. Clayton County Public Schools, which won’t receive any of the state grant money, is counting on help from Delta.

Jet fuel tax reimbursements

Below is the grant allocation to metro Atlanta counties of state funding meant to partially reimburse local governments for the loss of sales tax money on jet fuel they will no longer collect as of July 1.

Clayton

$26.95 million

Cobb

$197,314

Fayette

$38,228

Gwinnett

$228,215

Henry

$12,261

Source: Georgia governor’s office