Delta could face a $40 million blow over the NRA after backlash from Georgia lawmakers — but the airline still won't move its headquarters (DAL)

pulse

March 2, 2018 4:51 PM

Delta may take a $40 million hit after Georgia lawmakers signed a bill that takes away a key tax exemption. But the company won't move its headquarters.

The Georgia legislature
The exclusion was motivated by
The bill will cost the airline, which uses Hartsfield-Jackson as its main hub and whose headquarters are located in Atlanta, $40 million.
But Delta is unlikely to move its headquarters, as the costs would likely outweigh the benefits.

The Georgia legislature passed a tax reform bill on Thursday which excluded a provision that allowed airlines to re-fuel at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport without paying the state's sales tax. The bill now awaits approval from the state's governor, Nathan Deal, who he said he would sign it during a press conference on Wednesday.

The decision to remove the exemption was motivated by Delta Air Lines' announcement that it would join a number of businesses in ending its discount program for National Rifle Association members in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in February.

If approved, the removal of the fuel tax exemption would hit Delta hardest. The airline, which uses Hartsfield-Jackson as its main hub and whose headquarters are located in Atlanta, would have received $40 million of the $50 million airlines were set to save with the exemption. Delta's 33,000 Georgia employees also make it the state's largest private employer.

Delta wont move its headquarters from Atlanta

Delta CEO Ed Bastian addressed the Georgia legislature's decision in an email to company employees on Friday.

Deal echoed those concerns in a press conference on Wednesday. Though he said he would sign the bill, he expressed reservations over the motivations behind the removal of the fuel tax exemption and said he would find "

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