Netherlands to increase tax on private jets

By Charlotte Van Campenhout

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch Parliament on Thursday approved a plan to raise taxes on private jet travel from 2030. The rules will apply to aircraft with 19 seats or fewer.

Under the new system, passengers on flights of up to 2,000 km (1,243 miles) will pay 420 euros ($486). Those travelling between 2,000 and 5,500 km will be charged 1,015 euros, and journeys beyond that distance will incur a 2,100 euro fee.

Currently, private jets are taxed by weight, just like commercial aircraft, but this will shift in 2027 when all aviation taxes move to a distance-based model. Private jets will follow the same taxation as commercial flights between 2027 and 2030, when the new measure kicks in.

Under the distance-based framework, passengers on commercial flights exceeding 5,500 km will pay just over 70 euros, while short-haul trips will cost about 29 euros and medium-distance flights roughly 47 euros.

The lawmakers who proposed the measure said the principle of "the polluter pays" should also apply to the very richest and the biggest emitters.

"Research by Oxfam, The Guardian, and the Stockholm Environment Institute shows that the richest 1% of people on Earth produce more greenhouse gas emissions than the poorest 66%. A significant share of those emissions is attributable to the use of private aircraft," the lawmakers wrote in their request to increase the distance-based tax on private jets.

In June, a group of countries including France, Kenya, Spain and Barbados had also pledged to tax premium-class flying and private jets.

($1 = 0.8633 euros)

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)