e-3478 (Taxation)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• The Government of Canada seeks to implement a luxury tax on new personal aircraft valued over $100,000;
• General aviation (GA) in Canada accounts for 90 percent of aircraft in the Canadian registry, and most airports are home to exclusively GA and personal operations;
• GA contributes $10 billion annually to the Canadian economy through sales tax, excise fuel tax, carbon tax, property tax on hangars, tax on aircraft maintenance services, tax associated with purchases of avionics and equipment, and through wages and economic spinoff generated by GA;
• Aircraft valued at $100,000 and above are not high-value luxury items, but 40-year-old well-maintained and retrofitted aircraft;
• Most new aircraft valued under $8 million are used by small private and commercial operators who operate aircraft of a maximum capacity of 39 passengers to facilitate trade and tourism, and for small businesses like flight training, crop dusting, transportation of goods, and non-passenger carrying service, as allowed by Transport Canada services to remote communities;
• Future electric aircraft are valued at over $250,000 and benefit from lower maintenance costs;
• Private flight instructors, flight training units, and owners who wish to lower emissions would see purchase costs increase exponentially; and
• The imposition of the luxury tax on small, personal aircraft would hinder the GA future in Canada and cause devastating harm to airports, and the jobs sustained by Canada’s aviation industry.