Lawmakers have passed the remaining budget bills, nine days after the April 1 deadline. NYAMA's efforts to beat back an ill-conceived anti-aviation proposal by then-Governor Eliot Spitzer were successful and the "charter plane tax" is NOT part of the final budget.

This is a tremendous accomplishment considering the long list of taxes that were proposed in the Executive Budget and sustained by the legislature; in addition to a plethora of tax and fee increases that were added to the revenue plan. State officials said the Budget will increase spending by 4.9 percent and raise $429 million in business-tax "loophole closures" and another $130 million in new taxes and fees.

While the state's dire fiscal situation precluded NYAMA from having any real chance of advancing a broad, General Aviation tax exemption this year, our advocacy over recent years has educated legislators as to the deleterious affect such tax policies have on the aviation industry in New York. This campaign by NYAMA certainly helped us get enough members of the legislature to oppose the tax, despite its inclusion in the Assembly one-house budget bill passed by that house a few weeks ago.

This good news on the tax front is complemented by the fact that there was no negative fiscal impact on overall appropriations for aviation in the Capital Budget. On the appropriations side, there is a total of $33 million for aviation:

$8 million AIP state match for federal program

$4 million for Stewart International Airport

$6 million for Republic Airport

$15 million for Bond Act projects

Language that allows for the unused portion of AIP to be transferred to AIR99 has been carried over again this year.