Progressive taxation is generally a thing we accept. I'm happy to pay more tax than my friends who don't earn as much too.
I think it makes sense to just whack a huge tax on flying. Right, you can't easily cross continents without flying, but I imagine the percentage of flights that are being made for super crucial stuff like say, unwell relatives, is a low percentage of the total.
So whilst we're in this transition period, tax it enough that you can offset or capture the emissions a few times over. It's a no-brainer. You don't even encounter the "but what about those in poverty" problem because flying is the quintessential luxury.
edit: I should be clear, as responders seem to misunderstand me, that the mechanism I prefer would be to tax according to emissions. I just think that flying should have a multiplier because it's primarily used for leisure or non-essential business travel.
My preference would be for the taxes to be used on actual carbon capture / storage / research rather than being redistributed, and in that model you need to pull more out of the top end because otherwise the poor eat fuel taxes and get nothing back.
I think it makes sense to just whack a huge tax on flying. Right, you can't easily cross continents without flying, but I imagine the percentage of flights that are being made for super crucial stuff like say, unwell relatives, is a low percentage of the total.
So whilst we're in this transition period, tax it enough that you can offset or capture the emissions a few times over. It's a no-brainer. You don't even encounter the "but what about those in poverty" problem because flying is the quintessential luxury.
edit: I should be clear, as responders seem to misunderstand me, that the mechanism I prefer would be to tax according to emissions. I just think that flying should have a multiplier because it's primarily used for leisure or non-essential business travel.
My preference would be for the taxes to be used on actual carbon capture / storage / research rather than being redistributed, and in that model you need to pull more out of the top end because otherwise the poor eat fuel taxes and get nothing back.