Defending an increase in the TSBA (solidarity tax on plane tickets), the new Minister of Public Accounts advocates a measure of “fiscal and ecological justice”.
(illustration) ( AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU )
“This measure will have the immediate consequence of increasing the price of plane tickets.” The airline sector, threatened by an increase in the tax on plane tickets, denounced Monday January 13 a “recessive” project and called for its “revision”, in a press release co-signed by the National Federation of Aviation and its businesses (Fnam) and the Union of French Airports (UAF).
The federations “regret the declared desire of the new government to take over, without the slightest consultation or impact study, the project to increase the solidarity tax on plane tickets (TSBA) as part of the project of the 2025 finance law. “Dialogue and consultation between the State and the sector seem more necessary than ever to ensure that the right decisions are taken,” judges Pascal de Izaguirre, president of Fnam. The price of the plane ticket is made up of numerous taxes and fees. Depending on the country and national regulatory environments, these charges can represent up to 40% of the ticket price.
The new Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, said last week that she was in favor of an increase in the solidarity tax on plane tickets to help reduce the public deficit.
The government of Michel Barnier had already proposed in its 2025 draft budget a tripling of this tax and an increase in the taxation of private jet passengers, for a total of one billion euros,
provoking the ire of the sector which had urged the new government to start from the “more balanced” project adopted in November by the Senate.
According to industry professionals, French companies lose one point of market share every year
But Amélie de Montchalin decided to keep the increase in the TSBA on the agenda, arguing that it was a “measure of fiscal and ecological justice”, “the 20% of the population with the highest income being responsible for more than half of the spending on air travel”, in an interview with
Parisian
.
“This measure will have the immediate consequence of increasing the price of plane tickets,” warn the federations on Monday, which fear a drop in French tourist attractiveness for the benefit of other European destinations and an attack on territorial continuity between mainland and overseas.
The increase in the TSBA “very directly threatens the future of French business aviation and further weakens French airlines, which lose one point of market share each year in terms of the number of passengers transported”, add the representatives. from the air. Taxation of the aviation sector, which contributes 2% of France’s GDP but is responsible for 6% of its CO2 emissions, is a long-standing demand from environmental NGOs who believe that the sector has so far benefited from tax giveaways. industrial in France.
