Republicans punish Delta Air Lines for ending National Rifle Association discount

Republicans voted to deny Delta Air Lines a tax break in retaliation at the company ending a discount for members of the NRA
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
David Gardner2 March 2018

Republican politicians have voted to deny Delta Air Lines a tax break in retaliation at the company ending a discount for members of the National Rifle Association.

The political retribution came from Delta’s home state of Georgia, where both the House of Representatives and Senate last night voted to remove a $50 million (£36 million) sales-tax exemption from a sweeping package of tax reforms. The tax break would have saved Delta millions of dollars in sales tax on jet fuel.

Both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines scrapped airfare discounts of up to 10 per cent for the five million members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) following last month’s Florida school massacre. The attack claimed the lives of 17 students and teachers and has renewed a national debate on gun control.

The company announced on Twitter: “Delta is reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel programme. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website.”

The tweet was liked nearly 500,000 times. The company insisted it was taking a “neutral” position on the debate despite abandoning its partnership with the NRA.

But the move did not impress Republicans who control the state legislature in Georgia, where the Atlanta-based airline has 33,000 employees.

Casey Cagle, the state senate’s presiding officer, vowed on Monday to stop any tax break that would benefit Delta. “Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back,” he tweeted.

“I hope they are better at flying airplanes than timing PR announcements,” Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, also a Republican, said after his chamber gave final approval to the tax-cut bill that stripped the jet fuel tax exemption.

Meanwhile the NRA’s chief lobbyist today suggested Donald Trump had reversed his position on gun control, just a day after the President held a televised meeting with lawmakers in which he said he supported increased background checks for gun buyers.

Chris Cox tweeted that he had met Mr Trump and the vice-president, Mike Pence, and they “don’t want gun control”. They also “support strong due process”, he added.

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