Gizmodo:

Right now, you should be saving $25 to $50 when you buy an airplane ticket. Why? Because Congress didn’t approve a bill to keep the FAA running, which means the FAA doesn’t have the authority to collect taxes on airfare, which should mean no taxes for you! Too bad the airlines are pocketing the difference.

As of Saturday, the FAA and federal government is losing out on $25 million a day in tax revenue, $25 million of which should technically result in consumer savings but instead is fattening the pockets of airlines. In anticipation of these airfare taxes expiring, airlines shrewdly bumped up their fares “by the same amount as the federal taxes.” That means even though there are no taxes for consumers to pay, consumers all still paying the same price as before (with the airlines taking all the “tax” money).

But just as its unfair, even immoral, for the airlines to pocket the windfall resulting from the failed reauthorization, it’s also unfair to blame “Congress,” writ large. The failure to reauthorize the FAA is 100 percent the fault of Republicans:

Republican House members were able to perfectly blend their hatred of unions and hatred of corporate taxes Friday when they refused to extend authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, leaving the agency powerless to collect fees from airlines.

Four thousand FAA workers have been furloughed without pay, although air traffic controllers will stay on the job. The move also halted airport construction jobs employing 80,000 workers, according to the Laborers Union.

The legislative roadblock costs the government $25 million in tax revenue a day.

The FAA shutdown was part of a Republican attempt to roll back a new union elections rule adopted by the National Mediation Board (NMB) last year.

Of course, Republicans do not see this state of affairs as a problem. Quite the opposite. By failing to reauthorize the FAA, Republicans get a win-win-win:

• Win 1: They stall efforts to unionize in the public sector.
• Win 2: Their corporate masters get a $25 million per day tax windfall, while middle-class airline passengers get screwed.
• Win 3: They further their goal of hobbling the U.S. economy by adding as many as 84,000 additional workers to the unemployment rolls while simultaneously starving the Treasury of $25 million per day, which represents a loss of $175 million dollars in uncollected taxes, so far.

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