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Biden Takes Aim at SpaceX’s Tax-Free Ride in American Airspace

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Elderberry:
New York Times by Minho Kim 4/4/2024

Every time a rocket soars into the sky carrying satellites or supplies for the International Space Station, air traffic controllers on the ground must take crucial steps to ensure that commercial and passenger aircraft remain safe.

The controllers, hired by the Federal Aviation Administration, close the airspace, provide real-time information on rockets and their debris and then reopen the airspace quickly after a launch is completed.

But unlike airlines, which pay federal taxes for air traffic controllers’ work for each time their planes take off, commercial space companies are not required to pay for their launches. That includes companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has launched more than 300 rockets over the past 15 years that often carried satellites for its Starlink internet service.

The Biden administration is looking to change that. President Biden’s latest budget proposal, released last month, suggests that for-profit space companies start paying for their use of government resources.

Commercial space companies are exempt from aviation excise taxes that fill the coffers of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which pays for the F.A.A.’s work and will get roughly $18 billion in tax revenues for the current fiscal year. The taxes are paid primarily by commercial airlines, which are charged 7.5 percent of each ticket price and an additional fee of about $5 to $20 per passenger, depending on the destination of each flight.

Mr. Biden’s budget proposal vows to work with Congress to overhaul the tax structure and split the cost of operating the nation’s air traffic control system. His promise is based in part on an independent safety review report commissioned by the F.A.A., which advises that the federal government update the excise taxes to charge commercial space companies.

“Whenever SpaceX launches a flight, it requires massive air traffic control resources to clear the airspace for hours around the launch window,” said David Grizzle, an author of the safety report and the former chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization, an agency within the F.A.A. that hires the controllers. “And again, it pays zero.”

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/us/politics/spacex-biden-musk-taxes.html

DefiantMassRINO:
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We can always go back to hitching rides on Russian rockets, like we did during Obama Admin.

GtHawk:

--- Quote from: DefiantMassRINO on April 04, 2024, 09:44:37 pm --- ////00000////

We can always go back to hitching rides on Russian rockets, like we did during Obama Admin.

--- End quote ---
Maybe Joe could direct NASA to pick up the slack and use one of their non existent ready to go rockets and capsules to send supplies and astronauts to the space station....oh wait the only thing NASA is successful at is spending huge sums of money. Maybe Joe should contract with Bezos I mean he's been at it longer than Musk and he's successful, right...right?

I doubt this anything to do with money, and is really all about Musk buying Twitter and allowing the posting of opinions and information from those who do not follow the democrat approved talking points. If I were Musk and Biden started increasing fees I would simply start charging higher rates to the government, it's not like they need Musk and SpaceX to lift to the space station or put military satellites in orbit....there's always Biden's buddies the chicoms.

ironhorsedriver:
Perhaps SpaceX needs to look for launch facilities outside the US.

Elderberry:
The article focuses on SpaceX, but it also affects all the companies that launch rockets in the USA.

SpaceX
ULA
Rocket Lab
ABL Space Systems
Firefly Aerospace
Virgin Galactic
Blue Origin
Relativity Space
Northrop Grumman Space Systems

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