[Numberwang]

I'm totally with you, but it is truly annoying the amount of subsidies the flight industry get. I've often taken trains across Europe due to my preference, but when the plane ticket is €20 and the train ticket is €400 it seems I'm fighting against the system.

[peteretep]

> but it is truly annoying the amount of subsidies the flight industry get

Please could you illustrate some of those for me, as compared to rail?

[yrro]

UK here.

> Aviation is currently undertaxed, according to economists from the IMF and World Bank, compared to other forms of transport. Airlines pay no fuel duty and VAT is zero rated meaning that no tax is charged on sales and tax charged on inputs is refunded.

> ...

> CE Delft calculated in 2013 that the shortfall as a result of these two anomalies amounted to around €27 billion annually in Europe.

> ...

> At a global level, the World Bank and IMF favour a relatively low tax universally applied per tonne of CO2, which could then raise money for climate change mitigation.

> In the UK, the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition considered in 2010 replacing APD with a per plane tax to include freight aircraft and provide an additional incentive to airlines to fill empty seats. However, this was dropped following concerns, the Government claimed, about concerns that it could be challenged legally as representing a proxy fuel tax (contrary to bilateral air service provisions with other countries).

> Another alternative would be a form of taxation that discouraged frequent fliers.

https://www.aef.org.uk/issues/economics/taxation/

[Reason077]

1. International airlines pay no tax on aviation fuel, despite their significant contribution to air pollution and climate change. In say, Europe, this represents a huge subsidy compared to ground transport, where fuel is heavily taxed.

2. Airports, particularly regional ones, are often owned by local governments and receive subsidies in order to encourage tourism and commerce in their region. In some cases, airlines receive direct subsidies from those airports in order to fly there.

3. Internationally, some airlines themselves are state-owned or state-subsidised. Gulf airlines such as Emirates and Qatar have been criticised for being significant beneficiaries of state subsidies.

This isn’t to say that rail isn’t subsidised too, of course. Even in countries where rail operates on a commercial basis, the physical infrastructure is usually government owned or financed in some way.

However, if airlines had to account for (and pay for) their environmental externalities, the costs of airline vs rail travel would work out very differently!

[ant6n]

Not just fuel taxes, also sale taxes. Plane tickets 0, train tickets 20%.

[Reason077]

Here in the UK, train tickets are also 0 VAT, whether domestic or international.

I expect that would also apply to international train tickets anywhere in the world. Policies on domestic tickets may vary.

[iguy]

> compared to ground transport, where fuel is heavily taxed

But isn't this basically a road tax? Fuel for agricultural machinery or industrial plants is also free of such taxes (typically).