Air tax plan to tackle poverty and eco-damage
-7/02/05
Responding to anti-poverty proposals from British chancellor Gordon Brown, French and German representatives at the G7 industrialised nationsí summit in London have persuaded the UK treasury to consider a multi-billion pound tax on tourist air travel.
The idea is to siphon resources from luxury activities towards meeting the UN 10-year development goals of cutting global poverty, reducing infant mortality, and boosting basic education among the most deprived communities.
The airline industry, which has made big money from cut-price travel, is expected to attack the proposals. The US administration, which sees no link between rich countriesí over-consumption and world poverty, and which is hostile to using government measures to reduce inequality, is also likely to oppose it.
Although European finance ministers have backed Gordon Brownís ëinternational finance facilityí to raise some 50 billion US dollars for aid, trade and debt action, the US treasury has said it will not play ball.
Bush administration spokesperson John Taylor declared, ìWe are taking a different approachÖ one more in line with US interests.î He referred to 4 billion US dollars already devoted to world development ñ but this mostly comprises private donations and aid and trade provisions that benefit US commercial interests.
Commentators point out that the industrialised world makes up a fifth of the worldís population, but consumes over 80 per cent of its resources, a fact that undermines the ëtrickle downí approach to tackling poverty, especially in a time of selective and constrained economic growth.
Rich countries mostly argue for policies that maintain their dominance of international markets and seek to lift people out of poverty through macro-economic expansion. But this fails to address the degradation of micro-markets in poor countries, and it involves pursuing policies that are environmentally unsustainable. The US has refused the Kyoto climate change proposals.
The strength of the air tax idea, say anti-poverty and environment campaigners, is that it both provides resources to attack poverty and reduces environmental damage. Reducing the ease and affordability of domestic flying could also help to tackle climate change.
The British treasury has been thought to be lukewarm towards the idea, and New Labour election strategists are liley to worry that the Conservatives will portray it as part of a ëtax and spendí agenda.
But Gordon Brown, who has spoken of the influence of Christian faith on his commitment to anti-poverty stance, has given the French and German idea a lease of life at the G7.
Aid agencies will argue that an earmarked tax will enable consumers to feel that they are helping to fight global poverty as they go off on their holidays.