Helicopter Operator Backs Repeal of New Tourism Tax

As talk mounts for the repeal of the state’s new tourism tax, it’s a no brainer that helicopter pilot and business owner Jeff Codman is right on board.

“Basically ninety percent of our business this year was in tours,” said Codman in a recent interview at the Newport State Airport in Middletown, where is based.

Codman, a Coventry resident, is licensed to pilot both helicopters and airplanes and has been flying for 27 years. Since 2000, he has operated his Middletown-based tour company, conducting helicopter tours of the mansions, lighthouses, Narragansett Bay and Aquidneck Island.

The state’s new 7-percent tourism tax that took effect Oct. 1 affects all tours that take place at least partly in Rhode Island.

As Americans continue to cut back on luxuries and vacations in a sluggish economy as fuel costs continue to soar, Codman sees the new tax as hitting his business hard from a third side.

These days it costs about $100 per hour in fuel just to fly his helicopter.

“I should have gone up on my prices this year due to the rising cost of fuel but I didn’t,” Codman explained. “I was trying to keep my prices low because people are spending less. This forces them to spend more where I was already trying not to hit them with extra charges, like fuel surcharges like a lot of other tour companies have done.”

In the 2010 season, Bird’s Eye View’s most popular tour was the $99 “Island Tour” that lasts 30 minutes.

Over the most recent summer season, more customers instead opted for the 18-minute “Mansions Tour” that goes for $59, Codman’s lowest price package.

“It’s a fact, people are spending less money and the sales tax is pushing up costs even more,” Codman said.

He also provides air transport for photographers and videographers—which would not be subject to the new tax. However those trips used to account for 50 percent of his business and these days fewer photographers, magazines, production companies and videographers are seeking out his services.

“It’s now about 10 percent of my business,” Codman said. “A lot of those customers were in advertising and companies are spending less on advertisements.”

Codman himself spends about $20,000 annually to promote his business and advertise to would-be customers both in state and outside of Rhode Island. He considers that kind of marketing as a boost that helps the entire local tourism industry—not just Bird’s Eye View Helicopters. He foresees that tourism-dependant businesses like his will have less money to spend on those kinds of promotional activities, which in turn will hurt the state's entire tourism industry.

“People will come in here from all over New England, from Canada, from all over, specifically because they want a helicopter ride experience whether on their honeymoon or their vacation, and they will work in the rest of their stay and vacation around that. They will stay at local hotels. They will eat in local restaurants. They will shop here and go to our beaches. Other times people are already here anyway and work it a helicopter tour that way too, but it works both ways,” Codman explained.

“The thing that really baffles my mind is that it’s only about $1 million they’re talking about raising from this new tax,” Codman said. “I think it will cost the state more in lost revenue, from the hit we’ll all take, than what they’ll raise from this new tax."

Codman has written to state officials and has been in contact with state Sen. Lou DiPalma (D-Little Compton, Middletown, Newport, Tiverton).

The local tourism industry also has come out against the new tax because tourism contributes heavily to Newport’s economy, according to a recent Providence Journal report, which also forecast about $1 million in annual revenue to be raised from the new tax. Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and other local General Assembly delegates, including Sen. DiPalma, have said they will pursue efforts to repeal the new tax on scenic tours and transportation services.

"I will support our Senate President if she introduces a bill, or I will sponsor one myself if asked in the next session," Sen. DiPalma said when asked about repealing the tourism tax. He also worried about reverberating impacts to the local economy.