Now I am really confused

As I mentioned yesterday, because of Congress' delays in approving the FAA funding, etc. some $390,000,000 in taxes were not collected. That seems to be wrong. Those funds were collected and now sit somewhere in the coffers of the various airlines!  Delta is reported as preparing to refund those collected taxes to its passengers, presumably one check or credit entry at a time. Other airlines are likely to follow suit.  This seems like a lot of wasted work.

I ask only one question - "Why can't they send the money to Washington, were it was headed in the first place?"

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