Posted on 11/13/2011 2:37:04 PM PST by Evil Slayer
Remember the "luxury tax" back in the late 80's and early 90's? It was a 10% charge assessed on new boats costing more than $100,000 and airplanes over $250,000. I believe it was also assessed on new cars over a certain threshold, but I don't think any American cars exceeded it.
The luxury tax was finally repealed during the (first) Bush administration, but not before it put most of the custom boat builders in the US out of business. It literally destroyed that industry, which was mostly small businesses and family-run operations. It also put 1000's of craftsmen out of work.
Airplane builders had other problems: liability insurance was making it impossible for them to build small planes (under the $250,000 threshold). That was finally addressed in 1994 with a statue of repose that barred most liability claims after 18 years from date of manufacture.
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