Designated as one of the main polluters on the planet, air transport is also regularly denounced for the amount of tax exemptions from which it benefits. In study published Wednesday July 12, the NGO Transport and Environment (T & E) has calculated that the very advantageous taxation applied to the aviation sector in France represented a shortfall of 4.7 billion euros, in 2022, for the State . Instead of this sum, it is finally “only” 840 million euros which returned to the coffers of the State, last year.
France is no exception in Europe. All the countries of the Old Continent support more or less the aviation sector through fiscal tools. In the United Kingdom, the difference between the actual receipts and those which should have returned to the coffers of the country, with normal taxation, amounts to 5.53 billion euros. France and Spain (4.61 billion euros) complete this podium. In total, in Europe, 34 billion euros in tax revenue have been abandoned by the States.
These discrepancies between real income and potential income are linked to the weakness, or even the absence, of a tax on aviation activities, denounces T & E. In France, for example, kerosene, which weighs around 30% of the cost of a airline, is not subject to the domestic tax on the consumption of energy products. And international planes also remain exempt from VAT, while domestic flights must bear 10% VAT, instead of 20%.
Air France, the big beneficiary
Plane tickets, says T & E, also benefit from minimal taxation. Even if the famous “Chirac tax”, nickname of the solidarity tax on airline tickets (TSBA), has doubled in 2020. However, it remains modest. In practice, it has gone from 1.50 euros to 3 euros for flights in economy class and from 9 euros to 18 euros for those in business class.
Finally, again denounces the NGO, the low taxation added to the number of exemptions does not contribute to lowering CO emissions.2. On the contrary, until 2026, airlines still have free allowances, “but which do not cover all of their emissions”laments T & E. In addition, long-haul flights outside the European Union “are not covered”she adds.
Upon examination, it is Air France which is the main beneficiary of these exemptions and this reduced taxation. Without this exemption scheme, the company run by Ben Smith would have had to contribute 1.9 billion euros to the state budget instead of a few hundred million euros, according to T & E. The airline s ‘inscribed in false. Asked by The worldWednesday, the Air France-KLM group has, according to its calculations “in 2022, collected and paid nearly 3 billion euros in taxes and duties in France, including 1.3 billion euros in taxes and air transport charges applicable in this country”.
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