Economists in the Sky
Why, then, do environmentalists campaign for new airline taxes (which would be totally ineffective) or for outright bans on air travel (which will never happen), instead of arguing calmly for the economically rational solution of bringing airlines into a carbon-trading scheme?
Here we come back to the true political content of the flying debate. Opponents of flying are less interested in the practical prospects for reducing carbon emissions than they are in forcing politicians to “take a stand” against frivolous travel — ideally by banning it outright in the utopian visions of the authoritarian Greens. And behind the puritan contempt for travellers’ self-indulgence lies an even deeper political agenda.
Airline travel is seen instinctively as a luxury, an indulgence of the prosperous classes. Denouncing air travel is therefore like sabotaging fox hunts, rioting against globalisation in the City of London or terrorising universities over “animal rights”. …
What, then, are these new protest movements really about? They seem primarily a way of expressing contempt for the rich and privileged, showing solidarity with the poor and downtrodden and creating an imaginary vanguard for a 21st-century version of Marxist class war. The end of communism and the rise of Tony Blair have left left-wing radicals with few options. So let them campaign for punitive taxes on air travel. Even if they succeeded, they would be less harm than old Labour’s 98 per cent income tax.
March 11th, 2006 at 5:36 am
I’d like to see what would happen if sky mileage were ended. I figure 80 percentum are a kickback to business travelers and maybe should be taxed as either unearned income or bribery.
Bribery distorts markets you know.
March 11th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Would Subway have to end it too, then?
March 11th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
If your employer buys your Italian Sub and you pocket the premium yes. Tax it. It’s wrong. This is one of the few things I’m a commie about. It leads to buying multiple grosses of 50 cent pencils instead of 10 cent pencils and getting an iPod for the trouble.