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posted by martyb on Saturday March 03 2018, @03:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the under-the-gun dept.

Lawmakers in Georgia removed a $38 million tax exemption for jet fuel from tax-cut legislation on Thursday in a move that will punish Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

Republicans vowed to remove the exemption after the airline cut ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Georgia's Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R), who is also running for governor, had threatened to kill any tax legislation that benefits Delta after the company's decision to end a discount program for NRA members.

[...] "I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA," Angle tweeted earlier this week.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/376327-georgia-senate-passes-bill-that-effectively-punishes-delta-air-lines-for


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:22AM (1 child)

    by Whoever (4524) on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:22AM (#646866) Journal

    I think that you will find that the SCOTUS decided that corporations had the right to promote political viewpoints, in the Citizen United and other cases.

    Now, I think that Citizens United was a bad decision, but it is the law of the land and it clearly allows for Delta to take (or remove) a political stance.

    The state of Georgia is also entitled to respond to that, but must also be prepared to take the consequences for the state's response.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:15AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:15AM (#646890) Journal

    Now, I think that Citizens United was a bad decision, but it is the law of the land and it clearly allows for Delta to take (or remove) a political stance.

    I disagree. If corporations and their representatives didn't have First Amendment rights, then stuff like this could be used to steamroll them into supporting terrible things. But the way the CU decision treats these organizations (which include a lot more than just businesses like non profits and labor unions), it has baked in a legal obstruction to government actions by state or federal governments to selectively punish the speech of companies. That is the sign of a good law IMHO.

    We already have seen several awful leaders of the US in a row (G. W. Bush on) and there's no reason to expect that things like that can never get worse. Companies that can defend themselves are a means to counterbalance that threat. And do we really want to give someone like Trump (or perhaps someone far worse!) the power to crush companies that don't parrot the right political views? Anyone here think that is a remotely good idea?