Biden proposes major tax increase on fuel for private jets

U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a major tax increase on the fuel used for private jets on Monday in his latest budget request.

"The budget would gradually raise the tax on fuel used by private jets from about 22 cents per gallon now to $1.06 per gallon in five years," The Associated Press reports. "The Transportation Department says the increase would help stabilize funding for [the Federal Aviation Administration's] management of the national airspace, which is mostly paid by airline passengers."

"We should make private jets pay the real environmental and social costs of this indefensible form of luxury travel."

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to increase private jet fuel taxes last year, and it appears the Biden administration took note. The senator welcomed the budget item and renewed his call for passing the bill on Tuesday.

While private jets account for 7% of U.S. flights, the AP notes, they contribute to less than 1% of the taxes used to fund public airports.

"We should make private jets pay the real environmental and social costs of this indefensible form of luxury travel," Chuck Collins, director of the program on inequality and the common good at the Institute for Policy Studies, told Common Dreams.

"The private jet lobby is a very powerful constituency that is used to getting their way. They represent the ultrawealthy billionaire and the private jet industry that serves them," he added. "They have spent millions to lobby to shift the real costs of private jet travel onto commercial travelers and regular taxpayers, including the cost of FAA services and airspace."

A Guardian report from November revealed that 200 private jet owners released over 415,000 metric tons of climate-heating carbon dioxide between January 2022 and September 22, 2023, which is the equivalent of what would be released by nearly 40,000 British residents from all of their activities.

The richest 1% of the world's population currently generate as much carbon emissions as two-thirds of the planet.