Travel Tax

This week President Bush is in Europe on a "fence mending" tour. Some folks not in the presidential party may themselves have been longing to go to Europe for some time, but may have waited to take the trip.  The exchange rate against the Euro is blistering  and has been getting progressively worse  - $1.24 in October, $1.29 in November $1.33 in December, etc.  These are dreadful numbers for those who traveled Europe before the Euro, or even as recently as two years ago when a dollar would more than buy a Euro.   Now none but the most financially insulated can skip across the Continent these days with any hope of carefree spending.  Of course, our President won't need to price hotels, or worry about incremental increases in air fare costs, but the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2005 calls for the funding of security partly through a $3 per flight increase in the security surcharge.  Airlines, some teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, say this is a tax on the airlines that raises the cost of travel, decreases demand and threatens profitability.  James C. May, the president of the Air Transport Association, had this to say about the proposed budget provision: "U. S. airlines  appear to be the only business in America that the administration has chosen to tax back to economic health."