[Svartalfiar]

This particular issue was the subject of an interesting radio interview I heard last weekend, and the consensus of the participants was that one of the long-term goals of the GOP is to gradually replace general tax revenues with industry-specific taxes and fees that actually make more sense from the perspective of a user-beneficiary comparison.

Sorry, but this is just as much crap as any other excise tax. The federal government should not be in the business or killing off certain industries, or boosting others. And federal level taxes should be 100% completely even and general across the board. The only fees the feds should be able to charge are direct fees for direct federal services. EVERYTHING else is state-level.

[Alberta's Child]

How would a state charge a fee for airline passengers? Would the states where a flight departs and lands be the only ones who could charge a fee, or would a state also be able to charge a fee if an aircraft flies over it?

This is why Federal regulation of interstate travel -- which is clearly established in the U.S. Constitution -- is a necessity in a nation that is engaged in anything more than subsistence agriculture.