Advertisement

Why you will soon pay more for short-haul flights in Germany

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Why you will soon pay more for short-haul flights in Germany
Photo: DPA

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet will sign off draft laws on new green taxes and subsidies this week, including much harsher charges on short-haul flights, German government sources said Tuesday.

Advertisement

As part of a broader "climate package" intended to bring Europe's largest economy back on course towards emissions reduction targets, taxes on flights up to 2,500 kilometres will increase 74 percent, to €13.03.

Tax on longer-haul flights will grow around 41 percent, reaching €33.01 for trips up to 6,000 km and €59.43 on the very longest journeys.

The charges are expected to bring in an extra €740 million per year to state coffers, according to the draft which would still have to be put to parliament.

READ ALSO: What are the key points of Merkel's new climate strategy 

That should more than pay for a reduction in value-added tax on long-distance train tickets to seven percent, down from 19 percent today. It is hoped that will prompt more travellers to travel by rail.

The government also plans to increase tax relief for commuters - compensating higher fuel costs from a new levy on carbon dioxide emissions - and for people modernising buildings to waste less energy.

Other new rules are aimed at giving incentives to municipalities to allow the construction of wind turbines, which has recently slowed.

After months of wrangling, ministers agreed last month a sweeping climate package. It is built around a gradually increasing CO2 price from 2021, on sectors that have thus far escaped green taxes.

The deal came after Berlin was forced to admit it would miss a 2020 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990 levels.

While environmentalists immediately labelled the changes insufficient, conservatives and the far right have challenged it, saying it goes too far.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also