The SPD wants to make the rich payBlack and red threaten a dispute over new aviation taxes
On Thursday, the leaders of the black-red coalition agreed that the ticket tax on air travel should be abolished by 2026. But the SPD is already planning a new tax – on wealthy passengers.
A dispute is brewing in the black-red coalition over a new tax on luxury air travel. As “Spiegel” reports, SPD wants to make business and first class passengers and private jet customers pay for the climate in the future. “Anyone traveling first class or on a private plane will be able to pay taxes without any problems,” Federal Environment Ministry spokesman Carsten Schneider said, according to the report, when asked. Federal Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil agreed with this statement. Schneider and Klingbeil are members of the SPD.
With this proposal, the ministries responded to the initiative of nine countries that will present a luxury aviation tax at the World Climate Conference in Belém, Brazil, including Spain and France. In this way, funds must be generated reliably for climate protection and development, the so-called “Premium Airmen Solidarity Coalition” explained in a communiqué.
However, the CDU and CSU rejected the initiative. “The problem does not arise at the moment,” Patrick Schnieder of the CDU Federal Transport Ministry told “Spiegel”. Federal Economy Minister Katherina Reiche’s office would not comment and asked that the matter be referred to “the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Transport, which are responsible in the federal government.” The leaders of the new coalition agreed late Thursday that the air travel ticket tax should be abolished by 2026.
“Increasing injustice”
According to a statement from the “Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition”, “business and first class travelers as well as private jets” will have to pay a special tax – either directly on air tickets or, in the case of private flights, on kerosene fuel. Each country should design a luxury tax independently, the declaration said, also because some countries already have kerosene taxes.
New taxes must then be added and compared with the status quo. “Society recognizes the growing injustice and recognizes that taxing billionaires and private airlines is fair and necessary,” said Jennifer Morgan, who is responsible for international climate policy at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the traffic light coalition.
