Jess Weatherbed
Should SpaceX pay the same taxes as airlines?
While airlines are paying aviation excise taxes that go towards the necessary air traffic controls during takeoff, commercial space companies like SpaceX — which require similar airspace safety measures around launches — are exempt.
Now, the Biden Administration is proposing these companies start paying their share of the government resources being used. Former F.A.A.-licensed aircraft dispatcher William J. McGee told the New York Times:
“This is a question of fundamental fairness. It would be the equivalent of having a toll system on a highway and waving through certain users and not others”
