Because we clearly haven't pissed away enough money on the DHS already. Maybe with another $48 million they'll be able to stop idiots from parking their SUVs on train tracks and doing more damage in an hour than Al-Quaeda has done in the US in three years. Not gonna hold my breath though.

For what??!

If they are going to double the security fee, I want them to insist on having TSA employees who are twice as smart. Meaning, half as smart as a chimp with rabies.

I'm a little bit skeptical about my safety being guarded by a guy who needs a clip-on tie. No offense, but if you can't master the complexities of a square knot, I'm not sure you're the man to be searching for C-4 lined suitcase bombs.

And the people who work the x-ray monitors? They all have that really dumb look, like you get when you watch local news. I've had more attentive sandwiches.

If you are going to double the security fee... double the security.

That's the libertarian viewpoint: lower taxes, higher user-fees. The idea being, those who use the service will pay for it, and not the average taxpayer.

its not a tax, its a temporary refund adjustment

EatHam: I want hot flight attendents.


Hear, hear!

Generally, mystereys, that is accurate. We all do benefit from having the skies be safe, as the airborne doesn't end up plowing into our workplaces.

I think it should be a mix of raised fees and general tax.

Read my lips: screw the poor, uh, I mean no new taxes.

while i in no way support the fraud that is the DHS or the TSA, I have an answer for the tie thing.

In jobs involving security or working around heavy machinery, tie wearers are required by law to wear clip ons. Otherwise, they can (in equipment situations) get pulled in, and in security situations, it's an easy attack point for a bad guy.

p.s. stop spending money on this sheyotte shrub, and find some actual terrorists.

LarsThorwald

I'm a little bit skeptical about people who can't/won't RTFA and answer their own questions...

/don't like raising the fee, but I like useage better than general

Do you have to pay this fee if you fly AirFrance or British Airways? Just wondering.

/My Boobies on fark.com!

Oh no! 5-8 dollars!

Imagine how much gas money it'd take to go somewhere round-trip.

I thought my butt hurt a little more today. Course it could have been the passing of the right to eat enchiladas law.

I didn't RTFA , but I get the drift of it. And just as a sidenote, I know a gal who has a taser. A small pocket/purse-sized taser for the times when she's walking around town.

She flew home to her parent's place for the holidays, and on her return, she had said taser in her purse. They inspected her purse, took her nail file away, and gave the taser back and she boarded the plane with it.

PeytonFarquhar

Noob, meet filter.
Filter, noob.

Hah haha to you all. Thank heaven I'm Superman, I can fly anywhere.

Ok, they're "doubling" the price - it's going from an average of $5 to an average of $10.

Jumping Jebus folks - at the cost of airline tickets, I don't think $5 is going to hurt too much.

How about we start caring about stuff that matters, like the war? Get a life, for pete sake.

I wish this were like the tire insurance they try to sell when you buy a new tires.

"Security fee? No thanks, I brought my own"!

/pulls back jacket to reveal Sig P226 Personal Homeland Security Device.

vegasj: abolish them bastages... national sales tax.

Sale taxes hurt the poor disproportionately.

On the other hand, property taxes hurt the middle class while income taxes hurt the rich. Add them all up and you have a relatively flat tax.

If you depart from anywhere in the United States, you pay the fee, regardless of airline..

Not sure about arriving.

BrotherAlpha: Sale taxes hurt the poor disproportionately.

how ya figure ? You'd be taxed on what you buy.... right ?

Rich man buys a Benz... pays 10 or whatever % tax for that $75,000 car....

poor guy buys a beater for $2,000, and pays 10% or whatever on that beater.

see the difference ? ... or am I looking at it wrongly ?

...and I'm sick of getting tapped in the balls with that stupid metal detector wand.

For double the money they can have a stripper feel around in there to see if I'm hiding a Howitzer in my crotch.

/well maybe not a Howitzer

mystereys:

That's the libertarian viewpoint: lower taxes, higher user-fees. The idea being, those who use the service will pay for it, and not the average taxpayer.

What libertarians have you been talking to? Libertarians are generally against government waste, including user fees, and would instead recommend privatized security.

Chelle82

Noob, meet filter.
Filter, noob.

You know what's sad is that I even read FArQ beforehand... I forgot that was in the filter :( So much for a good first impression.

Back to the topic, why are we spending MORE money on airline security, if terrorists aren't dumb enough to try the same bombing tactic twice (except in the countries of Iraq and Israel)? Just recently a bunch of Chinese guys snuck into the country in a cargo container. I wonder what else could be snuck in here.

James Bong: its not a tax, its a temporary refund adjustment

I like the sound of "colossal salary grab" myself

... which makes it a flat tax, and a flat tax hurts the poor disproportionately; which is something everyone understands, and the reason why this country does not and and will never have a flat tax.

I'm not really arguing here, but this is pretty much accepted. No one is seriously suggesting a change, but there's no point in saying "does not!"

vegasj:

poor guy buys a beater for $2,000, and pays 10% or whatever on that beater.

see the difference ? ... or am I looking at it wrongly ?


Because to a poor person, $200 is a lot of money./remembers college days

money they may need for food.

for the rich man, if $7500 is too much, he can choose to get a 3 series and only dish out $3500 in taxes, saving about $3500.

The poor man really doesn't have that option.

I am in the United States Army repairing NVG for pilots who are flying Helicopters in one of the most volitile places on earth and I wear a clip-on tie. I can tie a tie but who gives a fark? Oh well!

vegasj:

how ya figure ? You'd be taxed on what you buy.... right ?

Rich man buys a Benz... pays 10 or whatever % tax for that $75,000 car....

poor guy buys a beater for $2,000, and pays 10% or whatever on that beater.

see the difference ? ... or am I looking at it wrongly ?

You're looking at it wrongly. Sales taxes disproportionally affect the poor because it takes a larger percentage of their income. For example, consider a poor family and a wealthy family of the same size. Each month they spend the same dollar amount on groceries (with 7% sales tax); however, even though both families pay the same amount in sales tax, that amount is a larger portion of the poor family's income than the wealthy family's. Sales taxes on necessities impact the poor much more than they do the moderate and upper classes.

i spose this would be user fees...

however the massive government subsidization of the airline industry is not. we all pay so people can fly. remember the massive amount that was dumped into the industry after 9/11? that was just the most public showing of what has been going on for years. repubs are for the free market, except when they're not.

national sales tax? please. it'll have to at least be over 40%. then add on top of that whatever the states have to charge b/c that's the main way they get money.

the taxes a poor guy pays on a beater might be 5% of his income. the taxes a rich guy pays on it might be less that .5% of his income. (hypothetically). that's how it hurts the poor disproportionately.

what else will be taxed when it is purchased that isn't now? college education? health care? things over the internet? homes?

oh well. i'm sure it will continue to gain momentum. good politics has been replaced good policy these days.

That farkin sucks. You know that $5 doesn't make a shiat of a diff. And it is a lot. You can fly to coast to coast for $99 on SWA when they have the best rates going. $10 is a damn high percentage of that. I'd rather spend the 5 spot on lunch or some beer. And pray to allah that my flight is safe. You'd get the same results, and at least get some food or booze in you.

PeytonFarquhar

So much for a good first impression.

I wouldn't sweat it. Welcome!

I do think it's a good idea for airports to have updated Internet connections, and while another attack via hijack may be unlikely, security overall still sucks. My roommate has gotten the pcket knife on her keychain through security a number of times at JFK.

That's the libertarian viewpoint: lower taxes, higher user-fees. The idea being, those who use the service will pay for it, and not the average taxpayer.

Service???? You, obviously, don't travel by air, do you?

Chelle82 - That filter never gets old, does it.

PeytonFarquhar - I'm impressed! Just kidding - it catches everyone , eventually.

Raising taxes is not a very "safe" thing to do, politically speaking these days...but if you think for a minute politicians, especially, but not only democrats, want to see their "goodies" go away one would be sadly mistaken. Increase fees, baby, not taxes. We are screwed either way.

Where the fark do they charge sales tax on groceries? In my state and any other I've lived in, there ARE NO TAXES ON NECCESSITIES.

Cars and gasoline are not neccesities, because I'm being told driving is a privledge.

Fortitude:

That argument isn't entirely true, I spend more on groceries now than I did when I was a grad student. True that you can only eat three meals a day, but they can be much better meals.

The plan is to increase fees and taxes on the lower and middle class so they can't do anything except stay at home and read the Bible.

Why do you think that Bush keeps talking religious while doing the opposite?

EnormousJuan:

Where the fark do they charge sales tax on groceries? In my state and any other I've lived in, there ARE NO TAXES ON NECCESSITIES.

Louisiana. 9% sales tax on groceries, clothing, etc.

vegasj:

that's what should happen with the IRS.

abolish them bastages... national sales tax.


Yeah, that'll work. :P

If this was truly Bush's idea, I'm sure First Class tickets are exempt.

Sure, $5.00 doesn't seem like a lot now, but you know this is only the first wave. When they see that people will gladly pony up 'only' 5 more dollars to feel safer, it's only a matter of time until they come up with something else.

Isn't there already a $5.00 9/11 Security fee on tickets? I see that in the small print on t.v. commercials for airlines or travel services. So that's 10 extra now? Is that right?

If he wants this, then fine. But cut the rampant shoveling of money to the DHS then. This makes it more of a use tax and that's cool with me -- you pay each time you pass through those metal detectors.

A little off-topic, but it seems the new Republican Governor of Indiana is way out of step with the rest of his party.

IN governor proposes tax increase on the wealthy.