Delta Air Lines recently announced a nearly $4.4 billion profit last year, but some lawmakers are pushing to give it back part of a fuel tax break the General Assembly took away in 2015.
State Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, who serves on the committee that writes tax bills, has filed House Bill 145, which would exempt part of the state taxes on jet fuel sales that airlines pay at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when planes are traveling out of state on domestic flights.
Carson said he isn’t sure how big the tax break would be, but he estimated it would cost the state and save airlines about $15 million. Delta would be the biggest beneficiary since it is the dominant airline at Hartsfield-Jackson.
“It’s about tax equity, about not being the third-highest tax state in regards to jet fuel,” Carson said. “This puts us in the middle in terms of attracting airlines here.”
Under the bill, if Delta or another airline is flying to say, Seattle, it would pay sales taxes on 55 percent of the fuel. If the flight is to, say, Savannah, the company would be pay 100 percent of the taxes on the fuel.
Carson said, “It’s not about Delta, it’s about Delta and its competitors.”
Delta's profits were down slightly from the $4.5 billion it made in 2015, with the company saying it faced pressure from higher fuel costs and pay increases to pilots and other employees. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that Delta is hoping to nudge business fares higher.
Lawmakers passed a tax break on jet fuel in 2005 for Delta when the company was in financial trouble. Legislators said it was never supposed to be permanent, but they kept renewing it and eventually made it permanent even when the company was racking up record profits.
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, sought to kill the tax break in 2015, and lawmakers repealed it in a transportation tax hike measure that passed near the end of the session.
Then-Delta CEO Richard Anderson had angered some lawmakers when he publicly challenged them to raise other taxes to help pay for new roads and bridges.
Ehrhart said the latest tax break has the same problems it had in 2015.
“I am still not ready to reinstate that tax break when they are experiencing record profits,” Ehrhart said.
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