Even cheap used small private planes cost > $100k. Since they are exclusively owned by wealthy people, it is a political impossibility to outlaw them.
You are underinformed. Most Cessna owners I know, are middle-income fanatics, usually co-owning a single plane.
In US you can get a license for as low as $8k total. In expensive California, expensive SF Bay Area cost is around $15k total.
You're saying that amateur making six figures cannot find $15k for something they basically live for? Sounds very unlikely.
Btw, there's no cost of using airport runway, it's paid from your taxes.
Cash for clunkers sort of thing.
You could argue those buying new cars bought clunkers from the working poor for their above-market trade-in value, but that only works for the poor if they didn’t need to replace that clunker because everything used went up in price.