The German federal government plans to nearly double taxes levied on short-haul flights, in order to help fund a 10% cut in rail fares.
The higher taxes form part of a climate package aimed at making the country carbon-neutral by 2050, and represents a bigger increase than had been expected.
The German Finance Minister believes that the move will increase tax take by 740 million euros (£632.4m), which will be used to finance tax relief on train tickets.
Value added tax on journeys of over 50km (31 miles) will fall from 19% to 7% from January 1, making tickets around 10% cheaper.
We've read it in: Passenger Transport, October 18 2019, p15
