We need to stop lying to ourselves

In the last 90 days of every year, nearly every piece of promotion that comes out extolling people to buy an aircraft talks about bonus depreciation. There is no such thing.

Check the definition of the word bonus.

Bonus [boh-nuh s] noun, plural -nus•es. 1. Something given or paid over and above what is due. 2. A sum of money granted or given to an employee, a returned soldier, etc., in addition to regular pay, usually in appreciation for work done, length of service, accumulated favors, etc. 3. Something free, as an extra dividend, given by a corporation to a purchaser of its securities. 4. A premium paid for a loan, contract, etc. 5. Something extra or additional given freely: Every purchaser of a pound of coffee received a box of cookies as a bonus.

Some marketing people started using that term incorrectly and many of us have continued the practice until the term “bonus depreciation” is part of our aircraft nomenclature.

It is all part of an illusion fostered on us by the government lackeys in Washington. This is the end result of begging politicians to give special favor to our industry over others. The government gave us nothing; it is all a ruse. They steal our money through inflation hoping we don’t notice their corruption.

Silly us, we play along. We convince ourselves that we got a little sumpin’ extra through our lobbying efforts. That would mean they granted us some piece of someone else’s pie.

James Madison stated it best when he said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents…”

The correct phrase should be “accelerated depreciation” not bonus depreciation. Taxpayers do not receive 105 dollars worth of depreciation for every 100 dollars spent. That would be a bonus. We are merely allowed to take the depreciation faster. The total amount of depreciation is limited by 100 percent of the price. Why should we bow and scrape and say thank you for getting what we are entitled to?