ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – WWF Switzerland is calling on the Swiss to tax flights, saying the country should do as its neighbours do. The Swiss travel, on average, twice as often by air as do French, Germans and Italians, according to WWF.
The environmental organization says that air traffic is one of Switzerland’s worst pollution sources, accounting for 16 percent of emissions that contribute to climate damage in the country. “In seven years, this figure will be more than 22 percent,” WWF Switzerland says in a 10 July statement. “A Zurich-New York flight has the same impact on climate as one year behind the wheel of a car.”
The group argues that while the problem was acknowledged 15 years ago and calls made across the political spectrum to do something about it, nothing has been done. Air traffic remains privileged, it notes that:
- flights are not taxed for TVA (value-added tax), nor for CO2 nor mineral oil tax, unlike car drivers and property owners
- and for revenue taxes, air traffic is given preferential treatment compared to trains.
Short-term, WWF Switzerland is calling for a tax on airplane tickets, as in Austria, France, Germany and Italy. It would like to see a tax of at least CHF20 for short-haul flights up to 2,500 km, CHF50 for medium-haul flights and CHF100 for longer ones, starting at 6,000km. And the taxes should be doubled for business class.
The tax could then be redistributed to the population or used to help finance Switzerland’s contribution “global climate protection in developing countries, long overdue”.