How Trump’s Spending Bill Helps The Rich Buy Their Private Jets
A provision in the Senate's recently passed spending package permanently restores 100% "bonus depreciation," a tax policy that allows businesses to immediately write off the full cost of qualifying purchases — including private jets — in the year they are bought, rather than spreading deductions over multiple years. Originally part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the policy had been phasing down since 2023 and was set to expire by 2027, but the Senate went further than the House version of the bill by making it permanent rather than simply extending it through 2029. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the permanent restoration will cost taxpayers $378 billion over ten years, and critics including progressive think tanks and Democratic senators are calling it a massive giveaway to billionaires and the private jet industry. Aviation industry figures, meanwhile, are celebrating the change and anticipating a boom in aircraft sales, while environmental groups note that the U.S. already accounts for 65% of private jet flights globally.