Here’s a letter sent to USA Today:
You support Sen. Robert Menendez’s demand that airlines roll all fees – such as those for carry-on and checked luggage – into ticket prices (“Spirit’s carry-on fees add new hassle for fliers,” April 14).
If this idea has genuine merit, why apply it only to airlines? Why isn’t Uncle Sam himself practicing what Sen. Menendez is preaching? Why doesn’t Uncle Sam stop charging us Americans those pesky separate fees for mailing letters, for using his courts, for getting passports, for applying for patents, for admission into national parks, and for a whole host of other goods and services that he sells to us? Why not roll all of those fees into one larger annual tax bill?
Surely, what’s good for the goosed is good for the goose.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
