Washington considers tax on sending rockets into space

A tax on sending rockets into space would be a watershed moment in the history of the aerospace industry. You should know thatwith each rocket launch, the entire airspace of the region – often Florida or California – must be reorganized to divert dozens of planes and thus leave the field free for the rockets. This requires a lot of resources, and so far, the companies involved have not had to pay anything – obviously SpaceX comes to mind first.

Today, the administration which manages the airline sector has a fund of 18 billion dollars which comes from the taxes paid by airlines and passengers. Joe Biden hopes to obtain from Congress an overhaul of the system to integrate profitable aerospace companies. The overall philosophy of the Democratic administration is that we need to tax the rich more. Moreover, this restructuring of aviation security financing could also give rise to a sharp increase in taxes on private jets.

The aerospace sector considers itself a drop in the ocean for the administration

The aerospace sector reacted to this announcement and it takes a dim view of this possible reform. He explains that the average rocket crosses airspace for only 15 seconds, and that the number of launches is a drop in the bucket among the 16 million commercial flights the administration manages each year.

It’s a bit quick to forget that air traffic controllers compare the takeoff of a rocket to the passage of a hurricane in terms of disruptions. Moreover, last year alone, the administration had to recruit 33 agents specifically for aerospace, even though the country has had a severe shortage of air traffic controllers since the pandemic.