• neptune@dmv.social
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    1 year ago

    Would be great to aggressively and progressively tax every wasteful thing rich people do. Yachts. Third homes. Private jets.

    If it’s something rich people do? Need to tell their lobbyists to STFU and double the tax rate on it.

  • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Let’s ban them instead. If they’re poisoning our atmosphere so much and it’s purely for luxury/convenience then we shouldn’t have them at all

    • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Maybe banning is a bit extreme, but we can leverage virtual meetings more for those that need these in person meetings, and maybe permit X amount of personal flights per day/month among all private jet owners or something.

      Sadly these things take time, time which I’m not sure we have as a luxury anymore.

      • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Eh, if you can afford a private jet you can more than afford last minute first class flights anywhere. The rich have plenty of other less destructive luxuries at their disposal, I have a hard time feeling sorry for them if they can’t fly their private jet whenever and wherever they like. It’s time we start treating the wealthy like normal people instead of allowing them to exert their power and privilege to our demise

        • Rachelhazideas@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not saying this to shill for private jet owners, but to shed some light on this. A big part of why private jets are preferable is that passengers can drive up to the plane and just take off immediately. No check ins, no security, no wait times, no boarding times.

          Banning private jets isn’t easy to do. A more practical solution might be to eliminate security theater, cut down boarding times, end overbooking, and heavily tax private jets.

          If the outcome we want is a reduced carbon footprint, we need to focus on things that are actionable, and getting private jets banned is unlikely to happen.

    • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah it happens all the time. They tax them more, the people go yay, they then use a new loophole. Probably one they introduced in the same bill. When you can buy your policies you’re never gonna be caught up in all this tax shit.

  • Ducks@ducks.dev
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    1 year ago

    Clarence Thomas says that the constitution doesn’t give the government the right to regulate private jets.

  • Kecessa
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    1 year ago

    Sure, they don’t represent much compared to all flights people take just to go on vacation though…

    Heck, your emissions are lower by driving to your destination with four passengers in a full sized truck or SUV than they are by having the same four passengers take a plane.

    Consider the time wasted at the airport and if you’re traveling a distance that can be covered by car in a day you’re better off driving alone in a small car to get there.

    Airplane manufacturers invest in anti emissions tech only to look good to authorities, none of it gets implemented in the end, might as well drive a car from the 80s on which the converter has never been changed, you’ll probably pollute less for the same distance travelled!

    • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is what I tell everyone. By the time you arrive at the airport. Go through security. Wait on the plane, then reverse that when you land, there’s a lot of added time there.

  • khepri@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m all for taxing and regulating the hell out of these totally unneeded luxuries, but air travel is 2% of global emissions, and private jets are 2% of that. They are a pure luxury, and so are a good target for emissions reduction, but this would be just one of hundreds of similarly-sized initiatives needed to move the needle at this point. It’s also not a “soft target” since we’d have to take something away from the rich that they like, which costs a lot of time and political capital that then can’t be used elsewhere, perhaps to greater impact.

    • silence7@slrpnk.netOPM
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      1 year ago

      Political capital is more like muscle than a one-shot battery: it gets stronger when you use it in ways that have public support.

      • khepri@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Point well taken, but I’d say getting the US Congress to agree to things that inconvenience the rich might be an exception. I really wish we could get the ball rolling on that in a self-sustaining, self-amplifying way that compounded to larger and larger changes and more and more public support. But that just isn’t how my government has worked in my lifetime in my experience.

  • starlinguk@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Stop posting the same low effort stuff everywhere. Post on one instance/magazine/community and start an actual discussion. Why are you karma farming? This isn’t reddit.

  • Uranium3006@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    air travel for businesses should be made non-deductable on taxes. that will make companies think twice about weather or not that international meeting could have just been a zoom call

  • KittyCat@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Lets tax them $1.00 for their first private flight, $2.00 for their second, $4.00 for their third and so on.