“Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin“Should five percent appear too small, be thankful I don’t take it all.” The Beatles - Taxman
My mother continues to say that everything was simpler in her day and after taking a look at the cost of a ticket from New York to London, I’m starting to agree.
I don’t remember the cost of my first air ticket to London, but I do remember that the only tax I paid was a $3.00 departure tax on international flights. Today, I would pay $371.61!
Here’s a condensed (and by no means complete) history of how we got there:
The Air Commerce Act of 1926 charged the federal government with the operation and maintenance of the airway system. Special taxes on users of the transportation system have been in place since WWII, when a passenger tax was imposed as a means of discouraging use of scarce resources such as oil and rubber.
This tax persisted throughout the Korean War and in 1962 President Kennedy called for a repeal of the 10% tax that applied to all commercial modes of transport and proposed a 5% tax on airline tickets and airfreight waybills.
With the coming of the jet age in the 1960’s, it was clear that the existing funding was insufficient and legislation was introduced to establish an airport and airways trust fund. 1970 legislation raised the existing 5% tax on domestic tickets to 8% and added a new $3.00 per person departure tax on international flights. At the time, it was assumed that growth in revenue would keep pace with growth in use of the system.
The 1978 deregulation of the airline industry changed everything. Prices for consumers were dramatically lower but this also meant that the ticket tax no longer correlated to the use of the system.
The 1980’s saw debates and special studies on how restructure the system so that all costs associated with operating and maintaining the system would be covered. From then on, it was a slow creep.
In 1990 the ticket tax was increased from 8% to 10% and the international departure fee from $3.00 to $6.00.
Customs, Immigration, Agriculture, Security – a dollar here, a dollar there. It all adds up.
That $361.71 added to the cost of a ticket to London? Here’s what it for:
$2.50 Civil Aviation Security Service Fee
$30.80 International Transportation Tax
$5.00 US Animal & Plant Health Inspection
$4.50 Passenger Facility Charge
$7.00 Immigration Use Fee$5.50 Customs User Fee
$79.38 UK Air Passenger Duty
$34.93 UK Passenger Service Charge
$202.00 Fuel Surcharge
When you bid on an air ticket or purchase one through our booking engine - remember - we’re not the taxmen - we just pass it along.
Entries (RSS)
April 7th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Hi Terry,
I remember when it went up to $9. I was working for BA at the time and many of our large producers were on my phone complaining up a storm! I wonder where they all are today?
Sal
May 19th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hi,
I guess the key to avoiding the high taxes on flights to London, is to avoid London airports. We used to use London as our gateway into Europe, now we seek out low cost fares to other airports. For my last two trips that have included London, I found it far more economical to fly into Brussels and then take the Chunnel across the Channel. This gave me the added benefit of seeing Belgium where hotel costs,food,( and chocolates!) are lower, but London is but a quick and comfortable two hours away. In Feb. the r/t Eurostar ticket was $97, yes, it took a little searching on their website to get that fare, but it is available. The key to European travel anymore, is to be flexible with both your travel dates, as well as your locations. In the meantime, you may end up seeing more, and different places than what your original plan entailed. Sometimes it just pays to get off of the beaten path.
jane