AEA opposes new Austrian passenger tax

Association of European Airlines condemned (02-Nov-2010) the decision of Austria's government to impose a departure tax on airline passengers of EUR8 for short-haul journeys and EUR40 for long-haul. The AEA is particularly critical of the depiction of the tax as an "eco-levy" which will lead to reduced carbon emissions, when its purpose is "clearly to plug a budget deficit". [more]

AEA: "If the intention is to boost fiscal revenues, I fear that the Austrian Government may find that it has got its sums wrong. They should learn the lesson of the Netherlands, which abandoned its own passenger tax in 2009 after just 12 months, when it was discovered that it had cost the economy a billion euros, in return for just EUR300 million in revenues," Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General. Source: AEA, 02-Nov-2010.