Travel tax dollars take flight

In yet another small but maddening example of dysfunction, Congress last week failed to extend the powers of the Federal Aviation Administration -- which means it can't collect $30 million a day in taxes on tickets, fuel and cargo.

The taxes add 10 or 15 percent to ticket prices; in their absence, competition ought to drive down the cost of flying. Yet all but three airlines have kept prices stable and are pocketing the difference. Lacking funds, the FAA has furloughed 4,000 workers.

It's easy to get mad at the airlines, which are exploiting the situation to gain a stealth fare hike. But they're in business to make money, and in the long run they make very little of it.

The real fault lies with Washington. You'd think everyone could agree that the FAA is important. But long-term funding for the agency expired in 2007, and since then it's been sustained by a series of routine short-term extensions -- until last week, when the two political parties were unable to agree on several issues. One was an industry-backed provision to overturn a federal rule that would make it easier for airline workers (along with most others) to unionize. Another is $200 million in annual subsidies for air service to rural areas. Democrats take the pro-union and pro-subsidy view, and on both counts are opposed by the GOP.

So now even the most basic federal functions are subject to partisan bickering. The result? A windfall for airlines, leaving taxpayers to fly into a rage.