The private jet lobby – and their super-wealthy passengers – have created a parallel universe of perks and privileges that would shock most commercial passengers if they knew about them. In both tax policy and homeland security, the high flyers have used their power to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for the rest of us.

This report examines how they are publicly subsidized, the security threats they pose, and the detrimental environmental impact they present. This report follows the work of a report released by the Institute for Policy Studies in 2008 of the same title.

Some major takeaways:
• The private jet lobby spent $56 million lobbying over the past ten years to save more than $1 billion in annual taxes they avoid due to preferential tax treatment.
• The tax cut package under consideration in the Senate maintains and expands the private jet tax carve-out, while the Republican budget plan increases fees on commercial airline passengers.
• Private jets contribute less than one tenth of the resources they use from the Federal Aviation Administration Trust Fund. Commercial airline passengers heavily subsidize private jet passengers.
• Commercial jets are taxed at up to 40 times the rate of private jets on the exact same route despite identical needs in terms of transportation infrastructure.
• Private jets threaten our national security as owners can obscure their identity and passengers face zero security screening.
• A single private jet trip burns more greenhouse gases than the average American does in a whole year.

Solutions:
• End the private jet tax carve-out and tax private jets at the same rate or higher than commercial air travelers. Don’t make it more expensive to fly commercial while subsidizing private jet travel.
• Close the security loopholes in private jet travel and tax carbon emissions effectively to account for the environmental impact of private jets.