A Republican Senator, Martha McSally of Arizona, thinks the best way to revive the U.S. travel industry is to give everyone money to spend on it, up to $4000 apiece, for three years.
Her bill, introduced June 22, is not likely to pass in its present form, but some sort of support for the travel industry, which presently is seeing 35% unemployment is on a lot of people’s minds, including airline pilots whose union has proposed having the government buy empty middle seats to keep more planes flying.
McSally’s plan, which she has named the American TRIP act for Tax Rebate and Incentive Plan would provide tax credits for adults to be spent on travel and travel-related expenses more than 50 miles from home but within the U.S., with smaller credits for dependents. It would be applied to 2020, 2021 and 2022 tax returns.
Although many have suggested that her proposal is mainly aimed at turning around her Senate re-election race where she is trailing former astronaut Mark Kelly, she insists that it is a serious proposal, and may at least influence whatever legislation is eventually passed.
