Passengers traveling into and out of Germany will soon see a slight bump in their ticket prices thanks to an upcoming increase in German government-imposed taxes.
Germany’s government is moving ahead to implement a number is tax policy changes in order to re-align itself with the country’s 2030 tax law objectives regarding climate change. Some of the changes include offering tax deductions to those who implement more energy efficient measures in buildings, and increasing the amount that commuters can deduct from taxable income.
There are many other measures being put in place to help them reach their 2030 target, but from a travel standpoint, air travel taxes will see an increase, while VAT on train tickets will decrease from 19% to 7%. The air travel tax increase varies depending on the length of flight as follows:
- Short-haul – from €7.50/$8.34 to €13.03/$14.49 – 73.73% increase
- Medium-haul – from €23.43/$26.06 to €33.01/$36.72 – 40.89% increase
- Long-haul – from €42.18/$46.92 to €59.43/$66.11 – 40.9% increase
Airlines will also be banned from selling excess capacity at below cost price, making it very challenging for low-cost airlines like Ryanair and easyJet to sell bottom of the barrel airfares to and from Germany. These tax increases may not be noticeable for more expensive tickets with legacy carriers, but for those buying low-cost fares that fall well below the $100 mark, the tax increase definitely adds up.
The changes are set to take effect from April 2020.
[Featured Photo: BriYYZ/Flickr]
