California Proposes to Tax Space Travel – Breitbart – Breitbart News

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Not satisfied with being the heaviest-taxed state in the nation, the clever folks at the Franchise Tax Board disclosed their intention to begin taxing the Apportionment and Allocation of Income of Space Transportation Companies under a new addition to the state tax collection enforce Code of Regulations.

With space is internationally defined as all the infinity that is 62 miles or more above the earth, the 21stcentury commercial opportunities for the development of space seem to be creating a new lust among California lawmakers to finda whole new source of revenue. The Franchise Tax Board is proposing to tax the movement or attempted movement of people or property including, without limitation, launch vehicles, satellites, payloads, cargo, refuse, or any other property to space.

In November, California voters passed Proposition 55to extend the temporary 13.3 percent top state tax rate on high-income earners until 2030, helping the state retain the highest marginal tax rate in the nation.

But the state also has the highest collections in the nation for property tax, sales tax, business tax, cap and trade tax and tax on aiplanes during the minutes that they travel in the states airspace. Californias local governments have also been clever in tacking on novel new revenue schemes from such items as soda and plastic (or paper) bags.

In 1966, the BeatlesGeorge Harrison wrote lyrics for the songTaxman, which appeared as the first track on the Revolver album. It became the theme song for a U.K. rebellion against the British Labour Party, which had setan astronomicaltopincome tax rate and surcharge of 98 percent while Harold Wilson was Prime Minister in 1974.

Those high tax rates led to most of the members of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and othertop stars of the 1960s British music scene going into a form of tax exile out of the country. Harrisons most iconic lyrics iconic include:

If you drive a car, Ill tax the street, If you try to sit, Ill tax your seat. If you get too cold Ill tax the heat, If you take a walk, Ill tax your feet.

Dont ask me what I want it for If you dont want to pay some more Cause Im the taxman, yeah, Im the taxman

The current space tax issupposedly designed to only hit companies operating in California that generate at least 50 percent of revenue from space transportation. But the tax, if enacted, will undoubtedly be expanded later, and it would also apply to any out-of-state company that launches a missile from the Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex.

Vandenberg launches have big advantages for commercial space missions because they fly southward, allowing payloads to be placed in polar and Sun-synchronous orbit. That allows full global coverage that is difficult to achieve through launches at Cape Canaverals Kennedy Space Center, where missiles must fly eastward to avoid risks to major population centers.

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California Proposes to Tax Space Travel - Breitbart - Breitbart News