Get a clue Mr. President - $250,000-a-Year Earners Can’t Afford Jets

POTUS needs to blame his mess on others - Too bad he is sooooo clueless he thinks some own who makes $250K a year can own a Corporate Jet....I understand that earing $250K a year makes you well off but not like the feckless fool in the White House thinks.

Once he is bounced out of office in 2012, Obama will be the one flying around in a corporate jet charging $100K a speech....what a joke.


Note To Obama: $250,000-a-Year Earners Can’t Afford Jets
By Robert Frank - Wall Street Journal

President Obama has a new term for the people he wants to tax more: jet owners.

In his news conference today, the president said: “I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that’s doing so well to give up that tax break….I don’t think that’s real radical.”

Asking private-jet owners to give up tax breaks may not be that radical. And it probably would be supported by the vast majority of the nonjet-owning voters.

The problem is that most of the people that would be subject to the higher taxes the president wants aren’t likely to be private-jet owners. Someone earning $250,000 a year–among those scheduled for a tax increase in 2012–is unlikely to afford a jet–or even a few charter trips on a jet.

For those, like the president, who may not be well-versed in Jetonomics, here are some of the basics. The numbers come courtesy of Jay Duckson at Central Business jets:

COST OF BUYING A JET

New Citation CJ (entry level jet)–$5 million. Annual operating costs (fuel, hangar space, pilots) about $500,000.

Cheapest Used Jet–$100,000 to $500,000. Annual operating costs (hangar, pilots, mechanics, fuel) about $1 million a year.

COSTS OF CHARTERING A JET

Typical charter–$3,000 an hour

It is possible, of course, that someone earning $250,000 a year might spend 5% to 10% of their annual income on a single flight by chartering, in which case we could call them “corporate-jet fliers.” But it is unlikely. Even more unlikely is someone earning $250,000 a year paying $500,000 to $1 million a year to operate a jet–even if they received it free.

According to Mr. Duckson and others, most of those who own their own jets have net worths of $100 million or more and earn more than $10 million a year–minimum.

The President may be right that is fair to tax private-jet owners. He may even be right that it is fair to raise taxes on those earnings more than $250,000 a year. But the only kind of jet owned by people earning $250,000 a year would be the kind that sits on your desk.

How rich do you think you have to be to own a jet?

CLARIFICATION: An earlier headline stated that “Obama Calls People Making $250,000 ‘Jet Owners.’” While his comments referred to the Democratic effort to close a tax loophole for jet owners, known as “accelerate depreciation,” the jet comment is part of the administration’s broader efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy, defined as those making $250,000 or more.