A MOVE BY the Clinton Administration to begin collecting a transportation fuel tax from US airlines could shut down some financially struggling US carriers, United Airlines chairman and chief executive Gerald Greenwald, has warned.
The previously enacted fuel surcharge, was waived by the US Government until October 1995, to help the US airline industry to recover, but Greenwald believes that the enactment date should be delayed because of the industry's slow recovery.
If the fuel-tax proposal goes through, according to Greenwald, "...some carriers may not be around to pay. The tax could prove fatal for some. Dead companies don't pay taxes."
Greenwald adds that the tax would cost US carriers $527 million annually, with United Airlines contributing as much as $80 million.
Source: Flight International
