California found 1,000 hidden private jets worth $3.5 billion — now U.S. lawmakers are fighting about whether they can dodge taxes

A newly resurfaced tax dispute is sparking outrage online after Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang said aircraft-tracking data helped his office locate roughly 1,000 additional planes in the county — even as House Republicans moved to block that same data from being used to collect taxes.

Critics of the Republican push say the proposal would make it even easier for some of the wealthiest people in the country to avoid paying into the communities they rely on.

What happened?

At the center of the fight is language in a House-passed air safety bill. While the bill itself is bipartisan, it contains a provision that, without an owner or operator's permission, would stop governments from using the Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft-tracking data to identify private planes "for the purpose of obtaining revenue," Politico reported.

Prang described the FAA's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) tracking requirement as a major tool for finding planes that had effectively escaped local tax rolls.

"Private aircraft owners go to great lengths to hide their aircraft from us," Prang told Politico. "This data helps us to identify where those aircraft are located."

Prang credited the data with uncovering about $3.5 billion worth of aircraft in the county this year — roughly 1,000 planes.

"If passed, billionaires will get to fly private and pay NO taxes. This is a handout to the superwealthy—and we're going to pay for it."

Why does it matter?

Prang said the tracking data revealed millions of dollars in unpaid local taxes.

For those extra 1,000 planes, Prang said, "At one percent [property tax], that's $35 million in local property taxes that aircraft owners had been avoiding," according to Politico.

That money could otherwise go toward schools, emergency response, transit, and other basic services.

Private jets are also among the most polluting ways to travel on a per-passenger basis.

What are people saying?

Others across the political spectrum also condemned the proposal. 

"It's annoying and wrong that private jet owners dodge taxes," wrote John Loftus, editor at large for right-wing news and opinion website Daily Caller. "... Republican lawmakers trying to carve out this loophole in a midterm election makes them look sneaky and unconcerned with the issue on 99% of the population's mind: inflation."

"Being able to use technology in a manner to efficiently collect fees and taxes that nobody disputes are owed is just common sense, and something we should be doing," said Democratic Representative Shomari Figures.

Still, Republicans backing the proposal argued that it would "establish a clear, nationwide standard, preempting any future state, local, or tribal law, ensuring that ADS-B is solely used for its intended safety purpose."

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