Germany's Chancellor Merkel has presented an austerity plan that includes an eco-tax on air travel. Advocates hope for new revenues of 1 billion euros from the eco-tax on air travel. The opposition claims the German government is using the environment as a lame excuse to raise taxes.
The proposal offers solidarity with Great Britain, which started air travel duties in 2007 and will raise the air tax significantly later this year. Although the details are not yet clear, it is expected that Germany will follow Britain's model, applying lower duties to shorter flights and penalizing long flights more severely, in relation to their higher emissions.
Is it a eco-tax or merely a way of tapping extra revenue? As the airlines point out (correctly) taking a modern plane is more fuel efficient than driving alone in a car. Is it really necessary to discourage flying?The problem with flying is that the emissions are released high in the atmosphere, where they can cause more problems than an equal amount of emissions from a car on the ground. Furthermore, this overlooks the option of train travel.
Should air travel be the last resort or be treated as a form of mass transport? Will such move merely divert traffic to other nations, or to people taking many short flights instead of one long flight? How else can we price externalities into air travel which is a concern for climate change issues?
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