The National Air Transport Association (NATA) this week called for more generous tax allowances as a means to stimulate aviation business investment. In an April 15 letter to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), NATA president and CEO Thomas Hendricks urged them “to be bold and develop legislation that includes the full and immediate expensing of capital investments.” Responding to the senators’ recently launched bipartisan effort to overhaul the U.S. tax code, he said that this presents an opportunity “to look beyond the immediate horizon and enact a tax policy that is truly forward looking and promotes investment.”

Hendricks also reiterated NATA’s opposition to the Obama Administration’s renewed proposal to lengthen the depreciation schedule for general aviation aircraft purchases. “The proposal demonstrates a continued lack of appreciation for the benefits of general aviation, a uniquely American industry with good-paying jobs,” he stated, concluding, “The full and immediate expensing of capital investments will unleash this sector and cement this nation’s continued dominance of the aviation industry.”