4 ms·

Business class taxes are 3x-6x economy, so corporations/rich people are paying more. Flying as is is a luxury, economy class or not, and we shouldn't forget th

Business class taxes are 3x-6x economy, so corporations/rich people are paying more. Flying as is is a luxury, economy class or not, and we shouldn't forget that.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Value added taxes sure, but this is a flat head tax, I don’t think biz class is going to be charged more than economy class.
- magduf 7y ago
  It says right there in the article that business class will be charged more than economy.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    Sorry yes. The article says 18 euros is the cap for business international, not the starting point. This is still very small potatoes when a business class ticket isn’t going for less than $3k. Interesting that they are also not taxing transits, meaning if you just transfer through CDG, you aren’t paying the tax.
    - dawhizkid 7y ago
      And a 3 euro flat tax for economy is small potatoes too. The original argument was that this would really hurt the poor. My counterargument was that flying is still a luxury, and the poor do not fly or fly frequently enough where this would actually be devastating to them. If anything the tax is too small to change anyone's behavior.
      - magduf 7y ago
        They're probably trying to make sure they don't charge so much that flying out of France becomes more expensive than some nearby city in a bordering country. But even so, these taxes are very, very low. Honestly, I wouldn't mind paying 10 Euros on a flight if I knew it was helping rail systems. It's cheaper than the stupid "convenience fee" that I have to pay for concert tickets.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Convenience fees are just immoral. I wonder if this means flying out of the French side of Geneva airport would incur the fee while the Swiss side would not? (Edit, it seems like the French side no longer exists after Switzerland entered the Schengen).
        magduf 7y ago
        I wonder: does Ticketmaster not make any profit at all on the ticket sale itself (does all that go to the act), and is the "convenience fee" actually their profit? Or is there profit built into the ticket price itself, and the convenience fee just additional profit? If it's the former, it's still lousy because they're advertising lower prices than what the actual cost is. But even so, it's still not much different from retail stores charging sales tax. Personally, I think it should be illegal to charge sales tax after-the-fact. The price advertised should be the price you pay, period. In Europe, this is exactly how it is: whatever price you see advertised is what you pay, and that's all. There's taxes (15% VAT I think, so not trivial), but they're built into the price, and they're not allowed to advertise the pre-tax price. This is exactly how it should be.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        The convenience fee is backdoor extra money for the event provider (eg band), they split the money with ticket master. Ticket master plays the bad guy (everyone can hate them since they are a monopoly) so the band doesn’t look evil themselves. Convenience fees are basically dark business method patterns.

Business class taxes are 3x-6x economy, so corporations/rich people are paying more. Flying as is is a luxury, economy class or not, and we shouldn't forget that.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Value added taxes sure, but this is a flat head tax, I don’t think biz class is going to be charged more than economy class.

magduf 7y ago
It says right there in the article that business class will be charged more than economy.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Sorry yes. The article says 18 euros is the cap for business international, not the starting point. This is still very small potatoes when a business class ticket isn’t going for less than $3k. Interesting that they are also not taxing transits, meaning if you just transfer through CDG, you aren’t paying the tax.
  - dawhizkid 7y ago
    And a 3 euro flat tax for economy is small potatoes too. The original argument was that this would really hurt the poor. My counterargument was that flying is still a luxury, and the poor do not fly or fly frequently enough where this would actually be devastating to them. If anything the tax is too small to change anyone's behavior.
    - magduf 7y ago
      They're probably trying to make sure they don't charge so much that flying out of France becomes more expensive than some nearby city in a bordering country. But even so, these taxes are very, very low. Honestly, I wouldn't mind paying 10 Euros on a flight if I knew it was helping rail systems. It's cheaper than the stupid "convenience fee" that I have to pay for concert tickets.
      - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Convenience fees are just immoral. I wonder if this means flying out of the French side of Geneva airport would incur the fee while the Swiss side would not? (Edit, it seems like the French side no longer exists after Switzerland entered the Schengen).
        magduf 7y ago
        I wonder: does Ticketmaster not make any profit at all on the ticket sale itself (does all that go to the act), and is the "convenience fee" actually their profit? Or is there profit built into the ticket price itself, and the convenience fee just additional profit? If it's the former, it's still lousy because they're advertising lower prices than what the actual cost is. But even so, it's still not much different from retail stores charging sales tax. Personally, I think it should be illegal to charge sales tax after-the-fact. The price advertised should be the price you pay, period. In Europe, this is exactly how it is: whatever price you see advertised is what you pay, and that's all. There's taxes (15% VAT I think, so not trivial), but they're built into the price, and they're not allowed to advertise the pre-tax price. This is exactly how it should be.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        The convenience fee is backdoor extra money for the event provider (eg band), they split the money with ticket master. Ticket master plays the bad guy (everyone can hate them since they are a monopoly) so the band doesn’t look evil themselves. Convenience fees are basically dark business method patterns.