Washington State Aircraft Tax Killed

NBAA applauded the Washington State legislature’s decision to scuttle a provision for an “onerous” tax proposal for aircraft in its annual spending bill. Final passage of the spending bill, which was approved without the tax on Monday, came near the end of a special legislative session called by Gov. Chris Gregoire after the regular session expired last month. To oppose the tax hike, NBAA banded with other groups–including the Pacific Northwest Business Aviation Association, AOPA and the Washington Pilots Association–to form a unified grassroots coalition known as the Washington Aviation Coalition. “When our industry collectively makes its voice heard, we can help shape policies that impact the business aviation community. We applaud the many NBAA members that took the critical step of contacting their elected representatives; that unified mobilization was critical to a positive outcome,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. The tax proposal, offered as a means to address a shortfall in annual state revenues, would have added a 0.5-percent tax on all aircraft, raising the existing aircraft registration fee by as much as 1,400 percent, or woud have imposed an “equally onerous” taxation method based on a chart of aircraft types and manufacture dates.