The Big Picture » Rail vs Air: Which Gets More Government Subsidies?

Rail vs Air: Which Gets More Government Subsidies?

Posted By Barry Ritholtz On May 9, 2011 @ 8:00 pm In Taxes and Policy | Comments Disabled

This morning, Becky Quick tweeted:

Transportation Sec. LaHood points out Amtrak made money last year. But it’s needed $30b in subsidies over the last 3 decades. -@beckyquickcnbc ^[1]

That is a fair observation — but it is rather incomplete, at least regarding air travel. We build massive airports, there is the entire FAA; We now have the TSA, and we bailed the airlines out after 9/11.

All of which raises the following query:

How much do we subsidize air travel?

Feel free to explain what transport subsidies are out there . . .

Article printed from The Big Picture: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog

URL to article: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/05/rail-vs-air-which-gets-more-government-subsidies/

URLs in this post:

[1] @beckyquickcnbc: https://twitter.com/#!/beckyquickcnbc/status/67569435120107520

Click here to print.