Taylor Swift got it Publicly dragged last year When it was revealed that she’s one of the biggest celebrity users of public jets, and with good reason: just four hours of flying on a private jet produces more emissions than the average person living in the European Union does each year. But Richie Richies are polluting the planet with their little trips through-country (sometimes just pass-city) We are also Feeding from American public money, with relatively little paying themselves, A.J a report Tues came out of the national institute for policy studies and millionaires find out.
Federal Aviation Administrationairports And other aviation infrastructure is funded through the so-called Airports and Air Corridors Trust Fund. If you ever bought a plane ticket in the US, you helped fund that $14.80 billion in cash at the end of 2021. Customers pay a fee equal to 7.5% of their fare with each ticket, as well as a small passenger facility fee to help with infrastructure to the airport. as prices of airline tickets have gone up in recent years, thanks factors like Oil prices and inflationAlso, it has this additional cost.
One would think that private flights would be subject to similar fees to help fund the FAA. After all, one in six flights operated by the FAA are private; It’s a big part of what the agency does all day. But, infuriatingly, those private flights are not subject to the same fees as your ticket – private jets only pay extra for oil, That works out to about 22 cents per gallon of fuel. Overall, according to the report, private flights end up being funded by only 2% of the FAA’s trust fund.
There is more to be angry about. IIncredibly, those private flights benefit from the facilities that the ticket fee helps pay for. As the report found, there are thousands of smaller airports and domestic airports across the country that serve only or primarily private and corporate flights But it does include infrastructure, such as runways, that is funded out of public money. amazing!
Math here Infuriating, especially when you consider the money lost when you don’t take advantage of some of the annoying travel habits of the world’s wealthy. Notice the big brain Elon Musk, who repeatsally no I want you to know where he’s going all the timetook 171 flights in 2022, Bloomberg reported last year, making it the most prolific Private jet user in the world. The report found that some additional fees and taxes on all of these activities could have netted nearly $4 million more in taxes. Implementing this could mean some serious relief in fares for ordinary people — or help airlines transition more smoothly to a low-carbon form of aviation.
This is not just a story about ills Capitalism – it is too Climate story. The number of people choosing to board private jets is increasing. In Europe, the number of private flights triple increase between 2020 and 2021, while the associated emissions quadrupled; The number of private flights in the United States doubled since the pandemic. It also has its own arrival and departure It began to fill the gap at smaller airports Where public service has been interrupted or cancelled. The preferred mode of transportation for the elite is becoming more and more popular pumps more emissions into the atmosphere, At the time we need to figure out how to increase those emissions under.
One of the co-authors of the new edition The report is a collection Designed exclusively for people with lots of money To defend ResponsiblyNing’s super rich out of control. Accordingly, many Report solutions The authors suggest Work within the framework of reducing the more extreme ends of this problem, such as imposing a sales tax on private jets, charging surcharges on smaller flights, charging for jet fuel, and increasing access to information and transparency about private flights and aircraft ownership.
that All votes Well and good. Frankly, though, forcing billionaires to pay a little more just to fly over air pollution is a bit like putting a band-aid on a mortal, gnawing wound. $4 million In fees is a small change for a guy like Musk, he could blow $44 billion on a website Apparently to push it to the ground. Of course there is alternativessuch as banning private jets altogether – a solution that would do more than take care of a portion of those pesky emissions. just meDEA.