EU Finance Ministers Again Discuss Airline Ticket Tax

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 September 2005

According to reports, this week EU finance ministers will again discuss the possibility of imposing a tax on airline tickets in order to finance aid for developing countries.

On Thursday, the European Commission published a staff working paper containing an analysis of how a solidarity contribution on airline tickets might be used by EU Member States as a source of development aid in order to help achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Requested by the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers in July, the staff working paper contains a technical analysis of the two options which Finance Ministers wish to consider further: mandatory or voluntary payment of a contribution by passengers under a common EU scheme in which Member States could voluntarily participate.

According to the EC, the working paper is designed to assist Member States by providing a basis for them to consider further the instruments they could use to finance their Overseas Development Aid commitments.

The Commission stated last week that:

"It is now for Member States to make their decisions in this matter in time for the UN General Assembly later this month."

In June of this year, the European Union had already decided to increase its budgetary commitment to Development aid from 46 billion EUR in 2006 to approx. 66 billion EUR in 2010. The Union has also decided to further strengthen policy coherence and send at least half of the increased aid to sub-saharan Africa, the region with most difficulties in achieving the MDGs.

Recommended