If you received Aero-news, your would have read an article about the
tax. Here is another:
Jim,
1. I won't fly to FL as a form of protest. My airplane, a
Lancair 320 built in Illinois, was first flown in 1996. If the
FDOR rule was in effect then, I would have been exposed to the
obscene tax because I couldn't prove I had paid sales taxes on the
components used in its construction over the 7 years it took to build it.
Even new amateur built aircraft are at risk - especially at an event like
SnF.
2. You failed to mention how easy it is for a clever FDOR snoop to
locate alien craft. If one has filed an IFR flight plan with any
touchdown in FL, "FlightAware" becomes the inadvertent and unwarranted
flight-tapping tool of the state's agent. Using FlightAware, the
tax-starved bureau can study the airport history of filed flights
that have landed there. See
http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KARR/history/buy (Yes,
I fly out of KARR) to see how one can buy just such history. A
mere $300 yields 6 months of data, including aircraft owner information, all in
a format usable by EXCEL. A little more programming and voila! - An
automated tax collector.
Arrrrggghh.............
Come on Jim, write an article (or delegate same) about
these threats to Florida bound GA flights.
Scott Krueger
Oak Brook, IL
N92EX