The decision was taken on Tuesday by the French Transport Minister, Elisabeth Borne a "Ecotax will be introduced, and should bring in around 180 million euros ($202 million) from 2020. The proceeds would be used to financing daily transport in Franceincluding the rail network local. Next year, the ecotax will mean an increase of €1.5 on tickets for domestic and intra-European routes - with flights to Corsica exempt. The ecotax will rise to 3 euros for economy flights outside the European Union, and flights to French overseas departments and territories will also be exempt. Business class passengers will be taxed more: 9 euros for intra-EU flights and up to 18 euros for tickets outside the EU. Transfer and transit passengers will not be taxed to avoid a double penalty with other countries that have also introduced taxation on their air transport.
Environmental NGOs have said that the new tax is unlikely to change consumer behaviour, given the relatively low level of taxation. What the NGOs are forgetting, however, is that this will be the third government tax on air transport, along with the Passenger Solidarity Tax - also known as the "Chirac Tax" - created in 2006, the proceeds of which are supposed to go to developing countries. It amounts to €1.13 for intra-Community and domestic flights, and €4.51 for long-haul flights in economy class. On the other hand, it rises to €11.27 for business passengers on intra-European and domestic routes and to €45.07 for long-haul flights. There is also a Civil Aviation Tax of €4.58 for flights within the EU and €8.24 for flights outside the EU.
This new tax should finance competing modes of transport, including road transport, and not the energy transition in the air transport sector.
The airline industry was quick to react. The management ofAir France has - unsurprisingly - declared that the French ecotax project would be "the best thing for him". extremely disadvantageous ". Indeed, it should considerably harm its competitiveness by representing an additional cost of more than 60 million euros per year on the carrier's finances. Air France operates 50% of its flights from France. "France is one of the countries with the highest taxes on air transport in Europe", says the company, adding: "Air France is one of the countries with the highest taxes on air transport in Europe. The government's decision is all the more incomprehensible that this new tax on air transport should financing competing modes of transport including road transport, and not the energy transition in the aviation sector. Such a transition could have been encouraged by supporting the development of sustainable biofuels or breakthrough innovations. ".
a punitive ecology that tends to reserve air transport for the richest people
For its part, the Fédération Nationale de l'Aviation Marchande (FNAM) has denounced " punitive ecology which tends to reserve air transport for the richest people ". FNAM officials ask: " Does the government want the death of French air transport with more and more taxes, contrary to the commitment made by Minister Borne and Minister of State De Rugy last June to introduce a "new tax". European taxation in order toavoid distortions of competition too large? ".
For Paul ChiambarettoProfessor at Montpellier Business School, Associate Researcher at Ecole Polytechnique and air transport specialist, this eco-tax could quickly prove counterproductive: " If the airlines had been told that this ecotax would finance R&D for air transport, with a sort of paternalistic state forcing them to save to invest in research, the pill might have been easier to swallow. By taxing them as planned, we are reducing their ability to carry out R&D and invest in a new fleet. The millions of euros taken away from Air France are millions that will not go into R&D. So we are potentially making air transport even more polluting." he explains.
At the end of 2018, the Delft Institute in the Netherlands published a study on the possibilities of taxing European aviation to finance environmental protection. The institute advocates a single tax for all intra-EU routes, while the tax would vary according to distance for other routes, for example every 1,000 km... A proposal that could serve as the basis for a future tax at European level.
