Government By Cookie Jar

As you ponder the TSA mess, consider this fun little fact: every airline ticket purchased includes surcharges meant to fund airport security. As Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, reported in a recent NY Post editorial, each of us pays a Passenger Security Fee of $5.60 for a one-way or $11.20 for a round trip every time we fly. That’s fee-for-service taxation, and the money collected should be used for the stated purpose.

Unfortunately, Congress, in its endless rapacity for Other People’s Money, “diverts” a hefty portion (about one third) of that money into its general fund, to be used for whatever Congress wants. This mirrors the long-running diversion of a portion of federal gasoline taxes that are supposed to be used... for fixing the roads. The federal gas tax diversion is running at about 20%. States, which impose their own gas taxes, ostensibly to maintain the roads that the taxpayers use, also divert some of that revenue.