Whitehouse, Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Close Tax Loophole Abused by Private Jet Owners

Trump's One, Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Bill extended a major tax break for ultrarich private jet owners

Newly released JCT reports unveil a boom in private jet sales and widespread abuse of tax loophole

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano urging the Trump Administration to close the Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) loophole that is abused by private jet owners to substantially undervalue the taxable cost of personal travel on a corporate private jet.

Passage of President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans' One, Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Bill made permanent an egregious tax provision allowing 100 percent bonus depreciation for the purchase of corporate aircraft, which the senators argue exacerbates the tax giveaway created by the SIFL loophole, letting the ultrawealthy skirt the true cost of personal private jet travel on corporate aircraft.

"The SIFL loophole compounds this giveaway. By allowing executives to report personal jet travel at a fraction of its true market value, the federal government is effectively subsidizing luxury travel for the wealthiest Americans while ordinary taxpayers bear the cost. The gap between the SIFL rate and actual charter market rates is not a minor technical discrepancy; it is a structural flaw that results in significant foregone tax revenue each year," wrote the senators.

"The IRS has the existing regulatory authority to either stop using or change the SIFL methodology. We urge you to exercise that authority to close the SIFL loophole and properly align what private jet users can write off with prevailing charter market rates. Such action would require no new legislation and ensure the private jet set pays a fairer share," concluded the senators.

The senators also today released an analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation detailing the boom in private jet sales after passage of Republicans' tax cut for corporate jets, and highlighting the extent of the tax revenue lost by the abuse of the SIFL loophole:

• 2/18/26 Letter from JCT. The analysis responds to an inquiry from the senators on the tax consequences of the SIFL loophole, finding that a wealthy executive would pay roughly between $1,577 and $1,804 less in taxes for a flight from JFK airport in New York City to DCA airport in Washington, D.C. under the SIFL method. The fair market value of that flight could range from $4,500 to $5,112, but under SIFL, that executive would only have to report a value of $235.77. [LETTER]
• 4/14/26 and 5/29/26 Letters from JCT. The letters respond to an inquiry from the senators on the tax benefits provided to businesses that own private jets for employee use, finding that from 2012 - five years prior to Trump's 2017 tax law - to 2022, sales revenue from private jets delivered in the United States jumped more than 36 percent. [APRIL LETTER - MAY LETER]

Senators Whitehouse, Warren, Van Hollen, Markey, and Sanders have long been pushing back against Republicans' bizarre fixation with cutting taxes for private jet owners, and previously wrote to the Biden Administration pushing them to close the SILF loophole.

Full text of the latest letter is available here.