Apparently the state legislators in the great state of Georgia are a bunch of hand-puppets, if I read this report from CNN/Money properly:
Image: Georgia.gov
Delta’s decision to cut ties with the NRA could cost it a generous tax break from the state of Georgia.
The state’s Republicans — including a major candidate for governor— are threatening to kill part of a bill that would eliminate a state tax on jet fuel. If it passes, the provision is expected to save the Atlanta-based airline tens of millions of dollars.
“We felt that it was wrong for them to single out one company,” said Chuck Hufstetler, chairman of the state’s Senate Finance Committee. Delta (DAL) on Saturday announced that it would end discounted rates for National Rifle Association members.
Hufstetler told CNN on Monday that if the airline does not reverse its stance on the NRA soon, he and others will push for the tax break to be stripped from the bill. The bill still needs to pass the Senate before it can be signed into law.
If Delta holds its ground, he added, “I don’t think [the bill] will pass as it is.”
Of course, it’s rather dubious that Georgia was going to hand a tax break exclusively to Delta. Government entities shouldn’t be in the business of handing advantages over to select companies, so this already smelled of corruption. But now Delta gets to see the flip side of winning a tax break – it can be taken away for all sorts of reasons, some of them having nothing to do with public policy, because this is power politics, baby. But that’s a rant for another day.
The twin facts of the matter is that Delta is the largest airline in the world, depending on how you measure it, and Atlanta, Georgia’s Hartsfield – Jackson airport is the busiest in terms of sheer numbers of passengers. Georgia’s Republican Party let its temper get the better of it – will Delta have the balls to signal that it’s thinking about moving operations elsewhere? That would be a symbolic slap in the face, even if it was mere rhetoric.
Georgia’s knee deep in corruption. First, a tax break that’s certainly nothing a principled conservative would dabble in, and then taking up advocacy for a private organization which has undoubtedly funded and supported many of their campaigns.
The swamp’s deep in Georgia’s capital of Atlanta.
