Obama Owes The IRS $35 Million for His Jet

Barack Obama, who rails against tax breaks for corporate jets, flies in the biggest jet of all – a Boeing 747 (commonly but not accurately called Air Force One. Fact is, any Air Force plane transporting the U.S. president gets the Air Force One designation for air traffic control purposes. But in this blog, I will accede to the common usage. Air Force One will be Obama’s Boeing 747.).

Now the numbers:

– A new Boeing 747-8 costs $320 million

– Hardened to withstand missile attacks, tricked out with weaponry of its own, festooned with the latest encrypted communications technology, let’s peg Obama’s plane at an even $500 million.

– A good rule of thumb about airplanes — I’ve owned four myself, all single-engine props — is that the annual costs are about 10% of the purchase price. So let’s peg Air Force One’s annual costs at $50 million: the sum of capital costs, maintenance, hangar storage, and all the rest.

– Of course, a plane earns its keep only when it is flying. That takes fuel — lots of it. Air Force One’s four engines together burn about one gallon of Jet A fuel per second. Hourly fuel costs are about $80,000.

– How many hours in year does Obama spend in Air Force one? Let’s guess and call it 15 hours a week, or 750 hours a year. Fuel costs alone, therefore, would be $60 million a year.

– Roughly, the annual carrying costs and fuel costs of Obama’s big fat jet comes to $100 million, give or take. My round number is supported by the National Taxpayer’s Union finding that Air Force One costs $181,000 an hour to operate, all in. Obama would have to fly 552 hours to hit $100 million-a-year by this calculation. However you analyze it, the cost of Air Force One comes in at around $100 million.

Gee, wouldn’t you call that a form of compensation? The president of the U.S. makes $400,000 in salary but he gets a perk that is worth $100 million a year. Cool! I’m not even counting the annual costs of his other perks — ground transportation in limos, free digs at the White House, the parties, the First Lady’s trips, and so on.

Just one perk, Air Force One, is worth $100 million a year.

You are right, Mr. President. Let’s end this tax break for corporate jets. Which means, you pay up, Big Guy! You owe the IRS roughly $35 million a year for your personal jet.

Rich Karlgaard - Innovation Rules