The dirty secret that needs to see the light of day-
In its April 29, 2014 letter to the FAA Administrator, the Aerospace Medicine Association (AsMA) made several arguments against the effective repeal of the 3rd class medical requirement. A copy of this letter is here:
http://www.asma.org/asma/media/asma...ical-Letter-to-FAA-Administrator-4-9-2014.pdf
To date, every online article, forum post, or blog referencing the positions of the American Medical Association (AMA) and AsMA against 3rd medical reform misses perhaps the physicians' groups greatest motivating factor behind continuing the 3rd class medical requirement, and that is the ability for AMEs to deduct the cost of up to 300 hours (or more) of flying costs per year from their federal income tax.
Put simply, if the 3rd class medical goes away, so does a tax break for the obsolete AME worth potentially tens of thousands of dollars per year for each AME.
See:
COLANGELO v. COMMISSIONER | Leagle.com
For the time being, leftseat.com continues to have a copy of the type of form letters that AMEs use to submit flying costs for tax purposes.
http://www.leftseat.com/pdffiles/IRSame.pdf
The NPRM regarding the 3rd class medical looks very hopeful except for the activities of AsMA and the AMA.
I would encourage everyone reading this to investigate this issue further, and consider contacting the following groups in support of advocating for reform of the AME tax breaks as a matter of appropriate medical ethics:
The Aerospace Medical Association [email protected], 703-739-2240
The American Medical Association https://apps.ama-assn.org/contactus/contactusMain.do 800-621-8335
Next, military flight surgeons are required to fly less than 50 hours per year. 35 years have passed since the original tax decision granting the tax break was given to AMEs. I would encourage readers to further investigate this issue and consider contacting your legislators requesting to eliminate this tax break to help offset the cost of administrating the medical branch at FAA:
Government Agencies and Elected Officials | USA.gov
In its April 29, 2014 letter to the FAA Administrator, the Aerospace Medicine Association (AsMA) made several arguments against the effective repeal of the 3rd class medical requirement. A copy of this letter is here:
http://www.asma.org/asma/media/asma...ical-Letter-to-FAA-Administrator-4-9-2014.pdf
To date, every online article, forum post, or blog referencing the positions of the American Medical Association (AMA) and AsMA against 3rd medical reform misses perhaps the physicians' groups greatest motivating factor behind continuing the 3rd class medical requirement, and that is the ability for AMEs to deduct the cost of up to 300 hours (or more) of flying costs per year from their federal income tax.
Put simply, if the 3rd class medical goes away, so does a tax break for the obsolete AME worth potentially tens of thousands of dollars per year for each AME.
See:
COLANGELO v. COMMISSIONER | Leagle.com
For the time being, leftseat.com continues to have a copy of the type of form letters that AMEs use to submit flying costs for tax purposes.
http://www.leftseat.com/pdffiles/IRSame.pdf
The NPRM regarding the 3rd class medical looks very hopeful except for the activities of AsMA and the AMA.
I would encourage everyone reading this to investigate this issue further, and consider contacting the following groups in support of advocating for reform of the AME tax breaks as a matter of appropriate medical ethics:
The Aerospace Medical Association [email protected], 703-739-2240
The American Medical Association https://apps.ama-assn.org/contactus/contactusMain.do 800-621-8335
Next, military flight surgeons are required to fly less than 50 hours per year. 35 years have passed since the original tax decision granting the tax break was given to AMEs. I would encourage readers to further investigate this issue and consider contacting your legislators requesting to eliminate this tax break to help offset the cost of administrating the medical branch at FAA:
Government Agencies and Elected Officials | USA.gov
