NM legislators propose sales tax on Virgin Galactic tourist flights
We’re here to help you: A bi-partisan proposal by two New Mexico legislators would create a 6% to 9% sales tax on any Virgin Galactic space tourist flights that take off from Spaceport America.
“If the flights really became regular, that could be a nice source of income, not only for the state but also from the GRT shared with the local communities,” [one of] the bill’s … sponsors, Democratic Rep. Matthew McQueen, said.
…”I can’t think of a particularly good reason why we wouldn’t tax this activity,” McQueen said.
McQueen might be too stupid to think of a reason, but I can think of dozens, and they are called the many other airport runways across the globe where Virgin Galactic can launch tourists and bypass this tax. The company already has agreements with several.
The stupidity of this legislative proposal at this time is compounded in that Virgin Galactic, the only customer Spaceport America presently has, is struggling badly. It has yet to fly any commercial flights, and is facing investor lawsuits and an aging fleet. Adding a tax on top of these problems could kill it, thus making this bill a perfect example of killing the goose that laid the golden egg, before the goose is even born. Moreover, it will certainly discourage anyone else from launching from New Mexico, especially as there are so many other spaceport options popping up worldwide with no such sales tax.
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We’re here to help you: A bi-partisan proposal by two New Mexico legislators would create a 6% to 9% sales tax on any Virgin Galactic space tourist flights that take off from Spaceport America.
“If the flights really became regular, that could be a nice source of income, not only for the state but also from the GRT shared with the local communities,” [one of] the bill’s … sponsors, Democratic Rep. Matthew McQueen, said.
…”I can’t think of a particularly good reason why we wouldn’t tax this activity,” McQueen said.
McQueen might be too stupid to think of a reason, but I can think of dozens, and they are called the many other airport runways across the globe where Virgin Galactic can launch tourists and bypass this tax. The company already has agreements with several.
The stupidity of this legislative proposal at this time is compounded in that Virgin Galactic, the only customer Spaceport America presently has, is struggling badly. It has yet to fly any commercial flights, and is facing investor lawsuits and an aging fleet. Adding a tax on top of these problems could kill it, thus making this bill a perfect example of killing the goose that laid the golden egg, before the goose is even born. Moreover, it will certainly discourage anyone else from launching from New Mexico, especially as there are so many other spaceport options popping up worldwide with no such sales tax.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
This will be another nail in the coffin of Spaceport America. V.G. is the anchor tenant at the spaceport. Last time I looked there were a few companies out there and a university leasing some space, but I believe those companies are startups so it is more like a business incubator.
V.G. could easily move their operations to Texas or Florida.
It is customary to wait until a new industry is actually flourishing before you try to tax it out of existence. Given the current status of Virgin Galactic, this is counting your chickens before you’ve even bought the original laying hen. At this rate, there may never be anything to tax. Reality can be such a buzz kill sometimes.
I could see a tax proposal if there was a robust, functioning enterprise here, putting folks up every week & raking in tons of cash, but taxing something that doesn‘t even exist yet is just plain crazy! The voters in this district need to put a pro-business person in this seat!
David M. Cook: This is a bi-partisan bill, with the two co-sponsors a Democrat and a Republican. I didn’t mention the Republican simply because he was at least not dumb enough to say something stupid.
Jay,
At least there is more happening at Spaceport America than the Oklahoma Spaceport. Both catered to a specific client and that has left both just a shell of the original plans.
The beat way for politicians to kill the blooming commercial space sector is to start heavily taxing it.
““If the flights really became regular, that could be a nice source of income,”
The politician’s eternal attitude, how can I steal more money from the citizens to fund my hare-brained schemes and line my pockets
Gladstone – “But Mr Faraday, of what use is this electricity of yours?”
Faraday – “I do not know, my lord, but I predict that someday you will tax it”
“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session” – Samuel Clemens
Goose? Golden Egg? More like a pigeon with loose bowels. I would be angry were it levied against Musk…but here? I think it’s wonderful.
As a New Mexican, I must disagree. The state government used $200 million stolen tax dollars to build this boondoggle, so they must continue the theft and graft. How else are us poor taxpayers going to get our money back? The amount of corruption associated with this project is epic!