Petty Politics:

The airline industry is notoriously one of the most volatile in the word. Demand for flights is highly cyclical based on the strength of the overall economy, and inventory cannot be easily warehoused. Planes tend to fly even when the cost of flying them is not fully covered. Yet in spite of these obstacles, Delta Air Lines has been in business for almost 100 years.

Delta’s roots can be traced back to Georgia, when in 1925 Huff Daland Dusters, the predecessor of Delta, was founded in Macon. Huff Daland Dusters was the first commercial agricultural flying company and grew to have crop-dusting operations ranging from Florida to California. In 1928, Delta Air Service was born when a group of local investors purchased the assets of Huff Daland Dusters.

Today, nearly 200 million travelers trust Delta to get them to their final destinations, and for good reason. Fortune has named Delta the World’s Most Admired Airline 10 times in the past 11 years. In addition, Fortune has ranked Delta the top airlines in social responsibility and long-term value.

In addition to being the fourth largest employer in Georgia, Delta drives more traffic through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest in the world, than any other airline.

Delta’s colossal presence in Georgia has resulted in them wielding significant political clout in the state. Throughout the early 2000s, Delta lobbied hard for a jet fuel tax break in Georgia, worth about $35 million a year. By the mid 2000s, Delta’s campaign proved successful when Georgia approved a tax break on jet fuel.

Georgia’s jet fuel tax break was easily renewed by the Republican controlled state legislature, year after year, under the guise of job creation and economic growth. However, when Delta decided to express political positions that did not align with Georgia’s Republican Party, all of a sudden, Georgia’s jet fuel tax break was no longer about stimulating the economy and generating employment.

In 2018, Delta decided to end a special discount for members of the National Rifle Association (NRA), following a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead. Within days, top Georgia Republican lawmakers vowed to retaliate against Delta if they did not restore benefits to NRA members.

Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor, Casey Cagle, tweeted, “I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.”

Georgia’s Republican controlled Senate and House overwhelmingly approved a new tax bill that removed a jet fuel tax break that could have saved Delta millions of dollars a year. The new tax bill was signed by Governor Deal (R-GA), despite his stated support for the jet fuel tax break. However, within months, Governor Deal took the very undemocratic approach of signing an executive order to stop collecting sales tax on jet fuel.

Fast forward to 2021, and Georgia Republican continue to try to use the jet fuel tax to force Delta to align with their political views. Following President Biden’s win in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, Georgia Republicans set about changing their election laws to prevent another Democrat from winning the state.

Georgia’s new voting law, passed by the Republican controlled legislature and signed by Governor Kemp (R-GA), makes it harder for some minorities and poorer citizens to vote. The new law requires IDs for absentee voting and restricts where drop boxes can be placed and accessed. The new law also bans the distribution of food and water to voters waiting in line by non-poll workers.

After initially refusing to condemn Georgia's new restrictive voting law, Delta reversed course and released a statement from its CEO, Ed Bastian, blasting the law.

“After having time to now fully understand all that is in the bill, coupled with discussions with leaders and employees in the Black community, it’s evident that the bill includes provisions that will make it harder for many underrepresented voters, particularly Black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to elect their representatives,” he said. That is wrong.”

No sooner did Bastian speak out about the new restrictive voting law, Georgia Republicans went to work punishing Delta. Governor Kemp accused Bastian of spreading “the same false attacks being repeated by partisan activists.” And Georgia House Republicans voted to eliminate the jet fuel tax break, just as they did in 2018.

As if it was not already obvious, Georgia State House Speaker, David Ralston, said that the reason for the elimination of the jet fuel tax was because of Delta’s opposition to Georgia’s new voting law.

“You don’t feed a dog that bites your hand,” Ralston said. You got to keep that in mind sometimes.”

At this point, it remains unclear if the attempt at retribution against Delta will come to fruition. The Georgia State Senate adjourned for the year before they voted on the House passed measure to reinstate the jet fuel tax.

The long saga over the jet fuel tax in Georgia is important because it reveals how many Republican legislators think about tax policy. When campaigning, Republicans almost universally say that tax cuts are good for the American people because they spur economic growth and increase opportunity. However, as can be seen in Georgia, Republicans principally view taxes as a weapon to wield against political opponents when they step out of line.

If Georgia Republicans believed that the elimination of the jet fuel tax brought more jobs and prosperity to their state, how could they justify reinstating it over a squabble related to a CEO’s statement on election laws? Either Georgia Republicans do not believe that the elimination of the jet fuel tax helped their state’s economy, or they are happy to punish Georgians because they disagree with Delta supporting voting rights.

If Republicans sincerely believe that tax cuts are good for the economy, there is zero reason they should raise taxes because they disagree with a company's policy positions. Of all people, Republicans should know that taxes are not a weapon to be used against those you disagree with. Taxes should be used to help the government provide services that the free enterprise system does not efficiently provide. Reasonable people can disagree over whether there should be a tax on jet fuel, but it is never appropriate to reach a verdict on this question based on political retribution.