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Irish senator, Lynn Boylan, has decided to take real action when it comes to short flights on private jets of celebrities...
In fact, the senator wants to introduce a "luxury emissions" tax of $3,000, which will be levied on private jets departing from Irish airports. Instead of just tweeting on this topic or making big speeches at debates and shows, this step will be of instrumental importance in changing the behavior of the rich and famous, who live a life with a strong carbon footprint.
Boylan also commented on Switzerland's plans to tax private flights, as well as Canada's luxury tax when it comes to the purchase, sale and import of expensive cars, planes and ships. The tax would certainly introduce big changes, since before the corona virus pandemic, during 2019, as many as 6,000 private planes took off from Irish airports.
According to The Irish Times publication, Boylan said that the emissions of private jets showed an increase of 31% over fifteen years, which is faster than all other sections of the aviation industry. She also emphasized that private planes emit two tons of CO2 in one hour, while one person from Ireland emits 12.3 tons of CO2 during the year. The famous and the rich surpass these numbers and can reach 1,000 tons worth of CO2 in a year. The famous soccer player, Lionel Messi, can serve us as a great example here, since in 3 months he flew as many as 52 times in a private plane, thus leaving behind an incredible amount of CO2, which is equal to 150 years of emissions of an average person.
As luxurious as they are, even the most efficient private jets leave a very large carbon footprint. A teenager who became a global sensation for tracking the private jets of celebrities pointed out a problem that the rich and famous, including Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian and Mark Cuban, are creating.
