Clément Beaune, Minister Delegate for Transport, was invited this Wednesday on franceinfo.
“The additional contribution of the aviation sector is a given, it is established”, said Clément Beaune on franceinfo on Wednesday September 20, to help promote the least polluting means of transport and finance the decarbonization of the sector. But for “the exact direct or indirect modality is still under discussion”warned the Minister Delegate in charge of Transport.
Contribution from highway companies and the airline sector
“The tax is a tool, the objective is to finance the ecological transition”he defended. “I am not obsessed with taxes, I am obsessed with ecological transition”, he insisted. The minister confirmed that the next finance bill would include taxes on motorway companies and airline tickets, while the newspaper The echoes announced Tuesday September 19 that the executive had “renounced” to this project which was to “financing railway development”.
>> Ecological planning: how will the 10 billion euros announced by the government be used?
“There will be an additional tax contribution from the most polluting sectors” in the 2024 budget, declared the minister, pointing out the “motorway sector” and the “air sector”. “Sectors that emit more greenhouse gases, roads, planes, will decarbonize and will finance the least polluting sectors”he explained.
Contribution modalities still unknown
“The exact modality” of this contribution from the air sector is “still under discussion”, added the minister. It remains to be seen whether this contribution will be made in a manner “direct”that is to say a tax on plane tickets, either “indirect”in other words taking the form of a tax on airports. “This is an option that we are discussing within the framework of taxation on concessions”, continued the minister. He assured that he wanted to exempt overseas territories and Corsica from the air sector eco-contribution tax. According to him, these “connections are very important, it is territorial continuity and an essential public service”.
Clément Beaune also returned to his wish to establish “a minimum plane ticket price” in Europe in order to fight “against social and environmental dumping”. “Sometimes certain companies sell things that do not correspond to the real price, the price for the planet, the environmental cost of a plane trip”he estimated.