T&E Position Paper on Aviation Ticket Taxes

T&E is strongly in favour of taxes on aviation tickets, such a tax can contribute to the objectives of sustainable development. The benefits can be described under three headings:

• Environmental: it lowers the environmental impact of aviation by slowing down the growth of demand for air travel;

• Economic: it contributes to a fairer tax system particularly because international aviation tickets are currently exempt from value added tax (VAT).
• Social: the tax will be used for development purposes and will be paid by the richest segment of society – those that fly.