THE aviation industry
has urged government to
exclude domestic carriers
from the Carbon Tax Bill,
which has already been
passed by the National
Assembly and is expected
to take effect from June.
The Bill is sitting with
the National Council
of Provinces, where
the Select Committee
on Finance heard
objections from a range
of organisations to the
proposed law.
Although the carbon
tax is to be applied to
airlines and will not be an
additional tax added to
tickets, it is likely that it
will hurt the consumer.
Chris Zweigenthal,
ceo of the Airlines
Association of Southern
Africa, said whether
airlines would absorb the
cost or increase their
nett fares remained to be
seen, but administrating
the collection would come
at a cost that would likely
be passed on to the
consumer.
Chris made an appeal
against the tax in public
hearings on the Bill on
March 12, arguing that,
while greenhouse gas
emissions had to be
reduced, carbon offsets
were preferable to carbon
taxes, which would hurt
the broader economy.
“We understand a system
where the polluter pays,
but we feel that a tax will
not solve the problem or
change behaviour,” Chris
told TNW.
In addition to hurting
the economy, there
is further criticism of
the carbon tax. The
money collected will
not be ring-fenced and
put toward reducing
carbon emissions and,
furthermore, the tax
duplicates some of
the work already being
done by the Carbon
Offsetting and Reduction
Scheme for International
Aviation (Corsia), an
initiative driven by the
International Civil Aviation
Organisation.
“We agree with the
Airlines Association that
the carbon tax will place
additional cost pressure
on a sector where the
margins are already razor
thin,” said Comair ceo,
Erik Venter. “Another
consideration is that
government is not using
this tax toward measures
to reduce pollution, but
that it is going directly
to Treasury as a further
indirect tax on the
public.”
Kirby Gordon, head of
Sales and Distribution at
FlySafair, said that while
FlySafair would support
the tax, provided it was
applied equally and used
toward counteractive
measures, the cost
would more than likely be
applied to the consumer
in the end.
Chris told TNW that
the local industry would
prefer a similar system
to Corsia and that
airlines had made a lot
of effort to reduce their
emissions, including
obtaining more fuelefficient aircraft and
improving procedures.
Moreover, he said,
while the airline industry
accounted for roughly 2%
to 3% of total emissions,
together with Iata, the
industry had set goals
from 2010 to reduce
carbon emissions by
1,5% every year until
2020; have carbon-neutral
growth from 2020; and
reduce nett emissions
by 50% based on 2005
levels by 2050.
