September 13, 2005

A Travel Tax to Aid World Poor?

Socialist utopia France is solidly behind the idea:

Under Chirac's proposal, different tax rates would be applied to various destinations and airline seats, but all airlines leaving a country's airports, regardless of nationality, would have to impose the levy.

The goal, he says, is to help meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty levels by 2015.

More handouts. But not everyone is thrilled:

Many other countries in Europe, particularly those with strong tourist industries such as Greece, are opposed to the air travel tax. The Austrian government announced it would also not take part.

That includes Germany and Spain--at least as how it pertains to the legislation's current form.

Here's the best quote from the article:

In the U.S., the Freedom Alliance views Chirac's plan as a step towards a "global tax" long campaigned for by internationalists.

"Here in the United States, our Constitution says only the American government can impose taxes on the American people," said the group's president, Tom Kilgannon, in an earlier statement. "They cannot be imposed by the United Nations or Jacques Chirac."

Exactly.

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