Taxing the use of private jets could have raised enough money to fund the rail fares pilot until the end of the new financial year, according to a new study. A scheme in which peak time fares were scrapped will come to an end after this month, meaning a hike in fares of up to 94% for some journeys. The Scottish Government, which owns ScotRail, said that the scheme brought a 6.
8% increase in rail travel , when it would have had to have seen a 10% uptick for the abolition to be self-financing. According to a new paper by Oxfam Scotland , the cost to maintain the scheme could have been covered by a new tax on private jets, something Holyrood has the power to implement. The paper showed that in 2023 there were 12,911 recorded private flights in and out of Scotland, around 6% of the UK total.
Read More: Glasgow offers to host Commonwealth Games as John Swinney approves emergency bid Impact of Scottish Government income tax decisions on businesses revealed Implementing an 'air departure tax' on such flights could have raised up to £21.5m more, the figures suggest. Since 2019, the same year the Scottish Government declared a ‘climate emergency’, there have been 54,746 recorded private flights in Scotland, with Edinburgh Airport serving over a quarter of take-offs and landings in 2023.
Private jets are between five and 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights. The power to tax passengers departing Scottish airports has been devolved since 2017 but the propos.