IATA Urges United Nations To Maintain Current Aviation Tax Structure

04.06.2024 - 16:25 / travelpulse.com / Willie Walsh / Rich Thomaselli

The old saying goes that death and taxes are the two constants in life.

Now, the governing body of most major airlines is trying to amend one of those.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is urging the United Nations not to change the aviation tax structure currently in place. It wants to keep the same plan where airlines are taxed by their home areas and not by the destinations where they fly.

IATA says it would be too complicated to change and could lead to some situations where airlines would abandon those destinations that fail to pay taxes.

"The proposals would be incredibly complex, would not necessarily lead to taxes in the developing countries...because the complexity associated with the tax environment may well lead to airlines stopping services to those areas," IATA Director General Willie Walsh said. "For governments, it would just mean collecting less from their national airlines and spending huge effort and money collecting taxes from foreign operators. Only the battalions of accountants needed to manage the reporting mess will be happy if the change is made."

A United Nations committee has been looking into the issue.

"The move is provoked by frustration with how shipping, not aviation, uses flags of convenience to find friendly tax regimes. That is no reason to change the efficient way aviation pays its corporate taxes," Walsh said. "Relief from the parade of onerous regulation and ever-increasing tax proposals."

The discussion comes at a good time since shipping and passenger demand is up.

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