soon a “frequent traveler” tax to replenish state coffers?

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– Climate Action Network measured the economic and ecological impact that certain political decisions could have to reduce air travel.

What if reducing air traffic boosted tax revenue? At the dawn ofadoption you budget 2025in a particular political climate, the government could explore innovative solutions to replenish the coffers. This is what propose the Climate Action Network in its report of September 26, 2024. This federation of national and local associations, committed to the fight against climate change, has identified nine measures already under public debate, which could not only generate significant tax revenue, but also contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Among the measures, “raising the “Chirac tax” on plane tickets” could generate 3.7 billion euros. This solidarity tax on plane tickets (TSBA), also called “solidarity rate”, is an amount that travelers already pay when purchasing their ticket. For example, for an economy class ticket to a European country, the solidarity tax is 2.60 euros. For an economy ticket to a non-European country, this tax amounts to 7.50 euros. Regarding premium classes, the tax is 20.30 euros for flights to France, Overseas or Europe, and 63.10 euros for other destinations. An increase in this solidarity tax could occur more quickly than expected: it would be already in the pipeline since last May, reveal the Echoes.

For the adoption of a “frequent flyer tax” for air passengers?

An alternative to the increase in the “Chirac tax”, the Federation is also assessing the ecological and financial cost of the creation of a “frequent traveler tax”. The amount of this progressive tax would increase with the number of flights carried out during the year. For example, Réseau Action Climat offers very low taxation for a first round trip but would increase depending on the number of flights carried out during the year, the distance traveled, and the class chosen by the passenger (economy or premium). According to their modeling, such a measure “would make it possible to reduce emissions from the air sector by 13.1%, while placing most of the effort on the most regular passengers and generating 2.5 billion in revenue“, explains the report.

Other measures analyzed would also increase state tax revenue. For example, the taxation of business aviation (notably private jets) could also bring in 76 million euros per year according to the scale established by the Citizens’ Climate Convention (360 euros per passenger for flights less than 2 000 kilometers and 1,200 euros for flights over 2,000 kilometers). While some low-cost airlines close their bases in the regionsthe association also quantified the closure of short air connections if a rail alternative of less than 5 hours exists. Which represents 157,000 flights in 2019, before the Covid crisis. Such a measure would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.7% but would result in a drop in tax revenue (VAT, “Chirac tax”) of around 130 million euros, which would therefore have to be recovered in other ways.

The Federation of Associations proposes that these potential gains be used to invest in rail. In 2023, the government announced a large investment of 100 billion euros in railway structures by 2040. That is, around 6 billion per year. The association proposes to invest this sum in the French rail network, and to reduce train ticket prices for long distances.