The use tax exemption for aircraft, and parts and materials affixed to aircraft, is important to the State's air transportation industry. Many states do not tax the purchase of commercial aircraft, or aircraft parts and materials. If one state does not exempt commercial aircraft from the tax, or the sales tax, it is a simple decision for the companies that fly the aircraft all over the country to decide to purchase, maintain, repair, or refurbish their planes in another state that provides an exemption. Currently, the Use Tax Act exempts commercial aircraft of at least 12,500 pounds used solely to transport passengers or cargo; and parts and materials to be affixed to planes that weigh at least 6,000 pounds and that are used solely to transport passengers and cargo. It has been questioned whether the exemption applies if the aircraft are used to transport both cargo and passengers, and it has been suggested that the industry could benefit if the State expanded the exemption for aircraft by lowering the weight qualification to 6,000 pounds. The bills would solve both these concerns, by making it clear that the exemption applied to aircraft transporting both cargo and passengers, and by reducing to 6,000 pounds the weight at which aircraft qualify for the exemption. Further, Senate Bill 630 (S-3) would apply the use tax exemption not only to aircraft that were purchased, but also to those that were leased. These provisions would help to ensure that airline companies would not be reluctant, because of tax policy, to base their operations in Michigan.