Expert Opinion
AIN Blog: Aviation User Fees? No Thanks!
Like stink bugs, aviation user fees seem to return every year.
#$%*& user fees!!! Overworked pilots, dispatchers and accounts have enough to do without worrying about feeding the inevitable bureaucracy that will spring up to collect user fees. (Photo: koratmember/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
#$%*& user fees!!! Overworked pilots, dispatchers and accounts have enough to do without worrying about feeding the inevitable bureaucracy that will spring up to collect user fees. (Photo: koratmember/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Taxes. I would like to pay fewer taxes, or none at all, but I accept why societies need them. I know some folks think we should do away with taxes altogether, but I can't see how that could work. Like death, taxes are inevitable.

On that cheery note, there is one tax I believe the non-commercial aviation community needs to keep and support, if for no reason other than to avoid its alternative. The tax is on aviation fuel; its alternative is user fees.