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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Valleyline Those who harp about airways subsidies should check out the FAA budget. They will find that the vast majority of FAA funds come from user fees, and not from general tax revenues as does the Amtrak subsidy. [/quote] They may say that, but it doesn't mean it's true. The feds, long before there were any so-called user fees, paid for airport construction. Indeed, rail passengers, through taxes punitively levied against them, paid for construction of airports. Talk about hyprocrisy! Airlines don't even pay HALF of FAA cost Between 1980-1989, total spending by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was $54.9 billion. Of that amount, less that half, 45.1% came from user charges. The rest, 54.9% came from non-users through the general revenue fund. -Source: Office of Management and Budget Air passengers did not pay user fees between 1963 and 1971, ironically the year Amtrak began operation. "Airport and airway development costs incurred prior to the assessment of user charges in 1971 have been treated as sunk costs, none of which will have been or will be paid for by air carriers...these sunk costs total $15.8 billion." -Source: Study of Federal Aid to Rail Transportation, USDOT 1977 Airport expansion projects... paid for by the feds with no whining about "subsidies" $12,000,000,000 Los Angeles Proposed LAX expansion (1/20/01) $ 5,400,000,000 Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport expansion $ 3,400,000,000 St. Louis Airport expansion $ 3,000,000,000 Washington Dulles Airport expansion $ 521,000,000 U.S. Amtrak yearly funding Serving 530 U.S. cities in 46 of 50 states $ 112,000,000 Los Angeles LAX aesthetic upgrade Note how Atlanta's expansion - one airport project - is NINE TIMES Amtrak's normal appropriation. More research found at... http://www.trainweb.org/moksrail/advocacy/resources/subsidies/transport.htm
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