Parts of the Nordic political establishment – green environmentalists and many others across the spectrum, also many social democrats – think they have found a great tool to combat global warming.
Taxing air traffic more heavily should do the trick they say.
I don’t contend that this would be ineffective. Of course we could try to cut air travel as well as other traffic exhausts.
Significantly raising air ticket prices could regrettably take us back to the times when only a well-to-do elite could afford exploring the world. For the wealthy, a few hundred additional Euros would not make a big difference.
In a peripheral, far away and small country like Finland, raising obstacles for international air travel is definitely not the best of ideas. We should encourage international travel and contacts, not hinder them.
Once again we see that there are no simple solutions to complex problems. Even if oncoming elections invite populist initiatives.