Levy for air travellers to fight AIDS
Travellers in the US, UK and Germany could soon find themselves donating to the fight against Aids and malaria when they buy an airline ticket over the internet under a scheme to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for healthcare in poor countries.
The scheme, which may involve an automatic contribution with an opt-out, could be launched by May 2010 as a complement to an air ticket tax that has raised nearly $1bn since it was was launched in France and a handful of other countries three years ago.
Philippe Douste-Blazy, the president of Unitaid, the body that oversees the air ticket tax, said the explosion of public debt during the economic crisis made it all the more essential to find innovative ways of raising money to cure Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.
No other large economy has so far followed France in levying a tax on airline tickets, although Japan is considering it and some other countries, including the UK, have made lump-sum contributions to the scheme.
Mr Douste-Blazy said extending a voluntary contribution scheme to three of the world’s biggest airline markets would allow a big expansion of efforts to provide cut-price medication to poor countries.
He would not give an estimate because much will depend on the final design and scope of the scheme, including the crucial issue of whether it is an opt-in or opt-out scheme,
Mr Douste-Blazy said he was hopeful that all the major US airlines and online travel operators would sign up the scheme, which is being backed by Bill Clinton, former US president.
France’s air ticket tax accounts for about two-thirds of the revenue raised by Unitaid.
France levies €1 on an economy class domestic flight and €4 on an economy international fare. Business and first class passengers are taxed €10 for a domestic ticket and €40 for a international flight.
Unitaid says the tax has had no impact on French airline ticket sales.
Mr Douste-Blazy, a former French foreign minister, expressed scepticism about his government’s recent attempt to relaunch the idea of a so-called Tobin tax on international financial transactions to raise money for overseas aid.
“Tobin has not made it,” he said. “But our idea has.”
Mr Douste-Blazy said it was essential to focus on practical schemes. “We really must provide innovative financing mechanism that don’t bring economic distortions. The Tobin tax is fine, as long as everyone implements it.”
Unitaid still hopes to sign up a total of 40 countries to its airline tax scheme, “a tipping point at which others will feel a bit ashamed at not taking part,” he said.
A voluntary contribution scheme could be a stepping stone to a full tax because it would help raise awareness of the problem of tackling Aids and malaria in developing countries, he said.
Unitaid has negotiated price reductions of 50 per cent on anti-retroviral drugs, including more recent and sophisticated versions. Its programme accounts for three out of four children receiving anti-retroviral treatment in the poorest developing countries.
By Ben Hall
FT.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3eeb4708-6640-11de-a034-00144feabdc0.html
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