Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position<br />By RICHARD FAUSSETMARCH 1, 2018<br />ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday<br />that stripped out a tax break proposal highly coveted by Delta Air Lines — the most stinging punishment that America’s pro-gun forces have leveled so far on one of the many corporations recalibrating their positions on firearms after the Florida high school massacre.<br />“We were not elected to give the late-night talk show hosts fodder for their monologues or to act with the type of immaturity<br />that has caused so many in our society to have a cynical view of politics.”<br />In addition to being one of Georgia’s biggest employers, Delta is the economic engine of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world<br />and a bragging point in the city’s claim to national and even international stature.<br />In a sign of the gulf that has opened between gun-rights purists<br />and Republicans with a more pro-business bent, Mr. Deal this week appeared to chastise fellow Republicans who sought to punish Delta, and thus potentially harm Georgia’s business-friendly reputation.<br />But Mr. Deal is a supporter of the jet-fuel tax break,<br />and he said he would sign the bill only because it also included a significant reduction in personal and corporate tax rates.<br />Mr. Cagle, the presumptive front-runner in the governor’s race, presides over the State Senate,<br />and his threat on Monday to kill the tax break was interpreted here as a way to protect his right flank from his Republican rivals.
