Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed new tax breaks for the state’s aviation industry, but insists they aren’t subsidies like the ones being debated between Boeing and Airbus in the fight over the contract for the Air Force’s new refueling tanker. 

The legislation she signed, one of 15 bills autographed during a ceremony in Spokane on Thursday, offers a lower rate on the state’s business and occupation tax to companies that maintain and repair aircraft.   It’s the same rate that Boeing and its major in-state suppliers get, but Gregoire it’s not an unfair subsidy, adding that Airbus gets the same tax break. 

The U.S. government has charged that Airbus receives unfair subsidies from European governments, and the state’s congressional delegation has used those allegations as part of their challenge to the $35 billion federal contract for a new tanker jet awarded to a consortium that includes Airbus, rather than Boeing.