Private jets: in full call for sobriety, the government wants to tax their fuels excessively

A middle way. After several controversies surrounding private jet flights, amid sky-high energy prices and after a dramatically dry summer, the government will support an amendment to overtax its fuel. It will be presented during the 2023 budget review in the coming days.

It was the president of the Sustainable Development Commission, Jean-Marc Zulesi (Renaissance), who presented it this Friday with one objective: “align the taxation” of kerosene used to fly private aviation with that “of gasoline used in the cars”.

A symbol in full appeal to the efforts of the French

It is signed jointly by several members of the majority, such as Sacha Houlié, president of the legal commission or Nadia Hai, vice president of the Finance Commission.

The maneuver intends to make a gesture towards the French, to whom the executive asks for efforts in a context of fear for supplies next winter.

“We have set ourselves the goal of reducing our energy consumption by 10% in two years,” said Elisabeth Borne during a press conference on Thursday.

A very advantageous taxation so far

Before calling “everyone” to “act to the best of their ability. It is the general mobilization that will give results.”

Suffice it to say that in a context of calls for sobriety, the gesture on fuel for private jets is seen as “a symbolic measure”, deciphers a member of the executive, with BFMTV.

Currently, the fuel used to fly private planes is taxed very little. Gas taxes account for more than half of the price at the pump for drivers.

This gesture also makes it possible to show that the executive is taking action, without going back on the red line he has drawn. If several figures on the left call for its ban, starting with the environmentalist Julien Bayou, it is not about taking this direction.

Beaune sees it as a gesture of “social justice”

At the end of August, Olivier Véran, a government spokesman, had rejected this clue about France Inter, seeing in this highly polluting means of transport a “job creator” sector.

Clément Beaune has been advocating for his part for several weeks for a regulation of the sector for several months, unlike his predecessor Jean-Baptiste Djebarri, himself a former airline pilot.

“It will be a rebalancing because it is a paradox. Private jets today are less taxed than (…) aeroclub tourist planes. So that fiscal justice, supported by the majority, is a good thing,” he defended this Friday. the Minister of Transport in ICL.