BUDGET 2021 is proposing a Luxury Tax on new and imported personal aircraft in Canada. This new tax is discriminatory  and grossly misrepresents the general aviation (GA) community.

GA in Canada accounts for over 90 percent of the aircraft in the Canadian registry, and the vast majority of airports in Canada are home to exclusively GA-type operations. GA is the starting point and breeding ground of all of aviation in the country. With the worldwide pilot shortage still anticipated by the industry in the coming months, taxing GA aircraft would contribute to this serious shortage.

For most, GA aircraft are a means to train towards pilot licences and facilitate trade and tourism. Imposing an arbitrary tax on the sale of privately registered aircraft is discriminatory, would seriously hinder GA’s future in Canada and cause potentially devastating harm to the airports and jobs that this sector of Canada’s aviation industry sustains.

An economic impact study conducted on behalf of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) estimated the economic benefit of GA to the Canadian economy at over $9.3 billion per year. Of that, $5.4 billion is directly attributable to wages. Those whose employment is derived from the GA industry at community airports, in cities and towns across Canada, in turn, raise families and pay taxes in those same communities.

Contrary to some popular opinions, the vast majority of GA aircraft are not owned by the rich, nor are they high-value luxury items. A $100,000 aircraft is usually a 40-year-old well maintained aircraft retrofitted with more recent avionics to improve safety. With the coming of electric aircraft that start at $250,000 and benefit from much lower maintenance costs, the flight training units, independent flight instructors and owners who wish to support climate change would see their purchase increased by thousands of dollars.

We are asking that the “new personal aircraft” be removed from the proposed Luxury Tax in Budget 2021 as it is arbitrary, discriminatory and the reasons stated for its implementation are distorted.