IATA opposes provisions in US tax reforms, aimed to tax foreign carriers operating in the US

IATA announced (28-Nov-2017) its opposition to modifications of provisions in US tax reform, seeking to tax any foreign air carrier whose home country does not have an income tax treaty with the US and has fewer than two arrivals and departures per week from major US airlines. The changes are emboldened in the Isakson Provision in the Chairman's Modification to the Chairman's Mark of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. IATA stated the provision would threaten "reciprocity that has enabled the establishment of a seamless global aviation system for the benefit of peoples and economies everywhere" and upend "decades of international precedent on the taxation of international aviation". According to IATA, other implications to the tax provisions include:

• Termination of the exemption from US taxation granted reciprocally to airlines from multiple countries, harming the seamless nature of global air travel achieved by the cooperation of governments on rules and regulations that govern the industry;
• Would terminate the exemption from US taxation currently granted reciprocally to airlines from multiple countries, both "in the Middle East and elsewhere around the globe". This would therefore require the US to reverse its formal representation to ICAO that its practice is in keeping with established ICAO policy and would put the US in breach of its obligations to many of its trading partners;
• According to IATA, foreign governments - even those not directly affected - "may well feel empowered to follow the US example, thereby terminating tax exemptions currently available to US and other foreign airlines in the interest of near-term revenue enhancement". [more - original PR]