Jeff Duncan: “I rise in support of the reinstatement of the 10 percent ticket tax. I want to commend the gentleman from Texas [Mr.…”

“I rise in support of the reinstatement of the 10 percent ticket tax. I want to commend the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] for his leadership on this issue. Chairman Archer is chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, has never supported an increase in taxes, and neither have I. We have the safest and most efficient aviation system in the world, but it is growing by leaps and bounds due to great increases in both air passenger and air cargo traffic. We simply cannot operate a safe, efficient, rapidly growing system for free. We have to spend money on it, and this means either some type of tax or some type of user fee or some combination of both. In the meantime while we consider user fees or other types of taxes, we need to reinstate the 10 percent ticket tax. Aviation is one of the few major fields in which the United States still leads the world, but we need to support Chairman Archer and take this very necessary step today to make sure that we maintain a safe and efficient aviation system. This is not a tax increase and we need to take this step at this time.”