- WASHINGTON, DC --
Feeling strapped for cash as you prepare to take off for Christmas vacation?
Maybe that's because hidden travel taxes have added an astounding 41% to
the cost of your trip, Libertarians say.
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- "For most Americans, Christmas is a season for giving,"
said Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party national director. "But for
politicians, it's a time for taking things away. Their hidden travel taxes
take away nearly half your buying power, which makes politicians the real-life
Grinches who are trying to steal Christmas."
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- That unwelcome holiday burden results from a wide variety
of taxes that federal, state, and local governments impose on travel- related
products and services -- taxes that hit Americans especially hard over
the holidays as they prepare to visit loved ones around the country.
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- According to a recent study by the Washington, DC-based
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), those unseen taxes boost the price of travel-related
items by an average of 41.2%.
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- Without these taxes, noted Dasbach:
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- * A $400 plane ticket would cost just $240. But a wide
variety of levies -- including a federal excise tax, passenger facilities
charges, fuel taxes, arrival and departure taxes, air-traffic control surcharges,
Customs, immigration, and agricultural inspection fees -- combined with
additional taxes paid directly by the airlines, adds 40% to the cost of
a plane ticket.
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- * An $80 hotel room would cost just $45.60. State sales
and use taxes, occupancy taxes, and tourism taxes, combined with the taxes
the hotel pays directly -- such as federal and state income taxes, payroll
taxes, capital gains taxes, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation
taxes, business license taxes, utility taxes, property taxes, local income
taxes, and federal and state excise taxes on the hotel's telephones --
add 43% to the cost of a hotel room, according to ATR.
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- * A $50 restaurant bill would cost just $36.20. But higher-
than-average sales taxes on food and drinks sold by restaurants, plus taxes
on alcohol, franchise taxes, and property, income, and payroll taxes paid
by restaurants, add an average of 27.6% to meal costs nationwide.
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- * A $20 tank of gasoline would cost just $9.80. However,
43 different taxes imposed by federal, state, and local governments add
a whopping 54% to the price of a gallon of fuel.
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- "After hearing about the government's very uncharitable
plans for taxing your holiday travel, you might be tempted to just stay
at home and save money by telephoning your relatives," Dasbach said.
"But you'd better think twice, because politicians have managed to
double the cost of a phone call -- by imposing 18 different taxes on telephone
companies and phone bills.
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- "Or think you can defy the Christmas Grinches by
sending your relatives a bottle of liquor instead?" he asked. "You'll
still lose, and the politicians will win. That's because taxes make up
72% of the cost of a bottle of liquor -- so that $20 bottle of Bailey's
should cost just $5.60."
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- As Americans get ready to celebrate the holiday season,
they should keep one thought in mind, suggested Dasbach: "Consider
how much merrier Christmas would be if you could visit your family, make
a phone call, or give a gift without having to pay such outrageous taxes
to greedy government Grinches."
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- "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who
falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
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