Taxing private jets could bring in 660 million euros by 2030, according to the NGO Transport & Environment

While drought and fires have made the deleterious effects of global warming more than obvious, this summer has been marked by controversy around the private jets of large groups and celebrities. The use of “business aviation”, a term used by the sector, is the preserve of the super-rich: jet owners own $1.3 billion on average. And they benefit from more than advantageous taxation, which the NGO Transport & Environment (T & E) proposes to reform, in a press release, Wednesday, September 7.

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To make private aviation contribute to the pollution it generates, this Belgian NGO, which campaigns for more ecological transport, proposes the establishment of two taxes:

• one on kerosene, commercial aviation being able to buy kerosene without having to pay taxes;
• the other on flights. With a base of 360 euros for a flight of less than 600 kilometers, then 0.6 euro per kilometer, it would penalize short flights, which are particularly numerous in France, according to a precedent reportand would raise 435 million euros in eight years.

Fuel used to fly private jets is fully zero-rated. An important advantage, while taxation on petroleum products represents more than half the price of gasoline or diesel used for road transport. In France, only kerosene used for passenger planes is taxed, but at a level of 35% to 40% less than fuel used for cars. The reason for this exemption dates back to the Chicago International Convention adopted in 1944, which prohibits signatory countries from taxing the fuel contained in aircraft fuel tanks.

The European Commission notes in a proposal for guideline – currently in negotiation – that ” mandatory tax exemption in the case of international aviation (…) is particularly problematic as it is not consistent with current climate policies and challenges and therefore proposes that business aviation be subject to the normal levels of taxation applicable to fuels in the Member States. A proposal that suits the environmental NGO, which believes that this would establish a minimum tax on kerosene at 38 cents per litre.

Free emission quotas

Currently, no specific tax is levied on private aviation flights. By comparison, regional air tickets benefit from reduced VAT and international flights from total exemption.

At the same time, aviation is included in the European carbon market (which operates according to the polluter-pays principle), but CO2 emission quotas₂ are allocated free of charge to airlines, including those offering jet transport. To reduce its emissions to be offset and fall below the ceilings, the first French business aviation company, Valljet, has split its company into two separate entities, as revealed Mediapart. The Commission is considering phasing out these free quotas. As for individuals who own an aircraft, they are not affected by this system and therefore do not have to offset their emissions.

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According to the calculations of the environmental NGO, these two cumulative measures would bring 656 million euros to France, by 2030. A tax that T & E would like to see used for the decarbonization of the aeronautical industry, by developing ecological fuels or hydrogen planes, who remain stammering. The NGO also advocates for a total ban on thermal private aviation before 2030, so that wealthy jet owners are forced to invest in green aviation if they want to continue flying.

Manon Romain