JETBLUE LOSES LAWSUIT AGAINST FLORIDA’S DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
October 24, 2025
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In 2024, JetBlue filed suit against Florida’s Department of Revenue, alleging that it violated the commerce clause of the United States Constitution by imposing a tax on flight miles occurring outside of the state. Florida’s approach calculates taxes for miles flown within the geographical area defined by state lines and encompasses large areas in the Gulf of Mexico (or Gulf of America), Atlantic Ocean and parts of neighboring Alabama and Georgia. This is unlike most other states, which typically use airport-based or revenue-based formulas for calculating tax, like departures and arrivals or tickets sold in a state. Florida’s approach has been challenged by other airlines in the past, but the law remains the same. State attorneys in this case successfully argued that the authority to determine how taxes are apportioned rests within Florida’s plenary power.
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