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Ryanair Condemns Hungarian Govt’s Idiotic ‘Excess Profits’ Tax
- 28304283409234 4y ago>This is not an ‘excess profits’ tax, it is just highway robbery by a Govt. that is completely out of touch with reality Flying, for almost _any_ reason is, in this day and age, completely out of touch with reality.
- danuker 4y agoDublin to London is 1h 15m by plane. Ryanair costs $24. A road trip including a ferry takes 8h 23m, and needs driving 600km * 4l/100km = 24l of diesel, which is about $56 just for the fuel. Then add the value of your free time, which is necessarily higher than your work time, because you have less time left in a week.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 4y agoWhat % of flights cross seas, though? I believe you missed the almost in the parent comment.
- ocfnash 4y agoI expect that the comment above was referring to the negative externalities, not captured by the financial side. For example, having more free time is probably not adequate compensation for the greenhouse gases emitted (at the societal level at least).
- danuker 4y ago> not captured by the financial side. The EU has emissions caps. Each year fewer and fewer carbon emissions rights are auctioned out. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets/emissions-cap-and-allowances_en https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-sy... Maybe it doesn't yet reflect the externalities on the environment. But it eventually will. The 2030 target is set so that the EU becomes climate-neutral. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/climate-strategies-targets/2030-climate-energy-framework_en https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/climate-strategies-targ... Until that time, I'll take the plane whenever I feel like it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- 0xLaMDA 4y ago
- nixass 4y agoLufthansa should've killed Ryanair when it had a chance, too late now. Terrible airliner
- atlasunshrugged 4y ago>This is not an ‘excess profits’ tax, it is just highway robbery by a Govt. that is completely out of touch with reality Wow, this is an aggressive statement by a corporate entity. I know Ryanair has always been more outspoken than other corporate entities (besides perhaps Ben & Jerry's) but this was quite surprising to read
- YPPH 4y agoThe CEO is notoriously outspoken, it doesn't surprise me at all. It's kind of refreshing to see something that hasn't passed through a public relations filter. For some colourful viewing, here's the CEO proposing a "standing cabin" on planes, and asserting that "the customer is nearly always wrong": https://youtu.be/xmGRGv2jEkg https://youtu.be/xmGRGv2jEkg
- throw457 4y ago
- teknopaul 4y agoPretty safe to ignore any corporate statements by Ryanair.
- Irishsteve 4y agoWhy
- ceejayoz 4y agoThe CEO has a history of being a bullshitter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary_(businessman)#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary_(businessman... > In 2007, O'Leary was forced to retract a claim that Ryanair had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the previous five years because the claim should have been that emissions "per passenger" had been cut by half. He has been reported to have impersonated a journalist in an attempt to find information passed on to a newspaper following a safety incident on a Ryanair flight. On occasion, he has apologised for personal attacks under threat of legal action. He has been criticised by a judge for lying, who said he was lucky not to be found guilty of contempt of court. He has also been criticised for dismissing concerns about climate change as "complete nonsense". > Reacting to the decision to close European airspace in April 2010 over worries about the volcanic ash plume from an erupting Icelandic volcano, O'Leary falsely said, "There was no ash cloud. It was mythical. It's become evident the airspace closure was completely unnecessary."
- malermeister 4y agoThat is some incredibly unprofessional tone for an official press release. Anyone who's ever had the misfortune of flying with Ryanair can't be too surprised though.
- jfax 4y agoHate to defend RyanAir, but I prefer unprofessional to corporate doublespeak.
- malermeister 4y agoYou have a point, but there's not using doublespeak and then there's just being an abrasive asshole. O'Leary is the latter.
- a0zU 4y agoCan you qualify that?
- hnhg 4y agohttps://www.azquotes.com/author/46597-Michael_O_Leary https://www.azquotes.com/author/46597-Michael_O_Leary
- malermeister 4y agoHere's a few examples, I'm sure you could find more: https://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0228/23628-ryanair/ https://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0228/23628-ryanair/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/jun/24/theairlineindustry.travelnews https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/jun/24/theairli... https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/war-in-irish-skies-as-regional-rival-claims-ryan-air-boss-oleary-told-him-fk-off-28442078.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/war-in-irish-skies-a...
- kmlx 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary_(businessman)#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary_(businessman... socially, he's a complete joke.
- Proven 4y ago[dead]
- rightbyte 4y ago10 Euro in fixed tax per ticket aimed to piss off the airlines. Who cares except the Ryan Air CEO swallowing the flame bait.
- danuker 4y agoRyanair is low-cost. The 10 Euro are a large proportion of a lot of tickets.
- whimsicalism 4y agoIt's not "bait" if it's an actual 10 euro tax per ticket.
- H8crilA 4y agoFWIW this is a pretty hellish place to work at. It's kind of a bait job for young pilots, you basically do not earn any income there after all work expenses (it's a contractor type of a situation), at the same time the atmosphere is very toxic. But cheap tickets, yeeeeee
- chippytea 4y agoThe 'Extra Profits Tax' is targeted at the passanger, not the airline. They knew that the airlines will pass on the extra cost to the passanger. The hungarian government knows that they have overspent in the past years and need to raise additional taxes. So they introduced a flat tax of about €10 (€30 for inter-continental flights) per flight. This achieves many things at the same time: -The government gets additional income -Orbán can blame the airlines/multinational companies for cost of living crisis -Fewer people go on holiday abroad, more money spent at home
- danuker 4y agoHungary is cheap per more developed countries' standards. The €30 upfront might make some rich tourists choose a different country and stay an extra night.
- ApolloFortyNine 4y agoI haven't found anything that makes this "excess profits tax" only affect airlines with excess profits, so it does sound like your typical government naming scheme. With how cheap discount airlines can be in Europe, this 10 euro tax can easily be a 30-40% raise in ticket price on some flights. Its funny looking up other sources where the government is seemingly shocked that Ryanair just increased their prices to compensate.
- tiborsaas 4y agoThey immediately triggered an investigation with the Economic Competition Authority :) This will be such a shit-show to watch.
- tiborsaas 4y agoIt's not just Ryanair, the government is basically milking entire sectors based on the good old socialism constructs that big companies are evil since they are making "extra" profits and people are eating this up not realizing that this will contribute even more to inflation and the ever weakening Forint. Truly concerning. https://wtsklient.hu/de/2022/06/13/extra-profit-tax-in-hungary/ https://wtsklient.hu/de/2022/06/13/extra-profit-tax-in-hunga... https://www.pwc.com/hu/hu/sajtoszoba/2022/extraprofit_adorendelet.html https://www.pwc.com/hu/hu/sajtoszoba/2022/extraprofit_adoren...
- formerkrogemp 4y agoI noticed the Ryanair's title included Excess Profits in quotes but not Idiotic. I wonder what Ryanair's views on this could possibly be.
- pavlov 4y agoIt's a press release on Ryanair's own site. You don't have to guess whose side they might be on.
- bjt2n3904 4y agoI mean... The joke about socialism was that all special taxes (ie: carbon tax) were just a thinly veiled excuse to scrape the cream off the top. The whole concept of an "excess profits tax" does away with the thin veil and literally says, "you earned too much money, we're taking some of it".
- danans 4y agoIsn't an "excess profits tax" basically similar in spirit to the windfall tax that the (Conservative) UK government just imposed on oil/gas companies for distribution to households dealing with high gas bills after the Russian invasion of Ukraine? It might have a different flavor coming from Hungary's nationalistic and authoritarian government, but the idea is similar.
- New_California 4y agoSo "excess profits tax" is fine - they say - except when applied to poor airlines? Turns out both Ryanair and Hungarian government are evil and anti-market.
- Claude_Shannon 4y agoPainful to say, but Ryanair is right. Hungarian govt just need more money to buy the voters.
- haspok 4y agoFWIW, nobody can define what "excess profit" is exactly. Let me correct myself, the government can define it, in any way, shape or form they want to. For example, casinos do not have "excess profits". Companies owned by the family members and friends/relatives of government officials do not have "excess profits". No, this is not a joke, this is Hungary (an EU member state!) in 2022... Ryanair is a religious charity non-profit organization in comparison.
- imtringued 4y agoExcess profit doesn't have to come from rent seeking. It could just be an accounting anomaly. I wish politicians tried to actually solve real problems instead of trying to blame scapegoats. Oh, and the tone of the article is awful by the way.
- mrlonglong 4y agoI don't know, Ryanair testing south Africans if they were genuine if they could speak Afrikaans definitely was idiotic. Not all speak that language.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y agoA corporation complaining about taxes? My oh my.