Currently, many Brazilian airlines are protesting against a pollution tax law that has been passed in Brazil. The fight is on and it is still not known whether the airline companies will agree to the tax or if there will be any changes made to the law in the future.
What is the new law?
The Municipality of Sao Paulo has recently passed a new rule according to which any airline company that is operating in Guarulhos International Airport has to pay pollution tax. This law has been passed recently keeping in mind the conservation and protection of the environment against harmful pollution that is caused due to air travel in Brazil.
Air pollution is a major issue not just in Brazil but also in many other parts of the world. Different rules are getting created in different parts of the world to curb this problem. Recently, Brazil has also taken an initiative towards this issue by passing this law.
According to this new rule, the airline companies operating in one of the most famous Brazilian airports in Sao Paulo, Guarulhos International Airport, have to pay Environment conservation tax. The amount of tax will be based on various factors such as the dimension and the weight of the aircraft along with the number of passengers the aircraft is carrying.
What is the Challenge?
While the municipality of Sao Paulo has passed this new rule, most airlines are against this rule and are heading toward the court of law with a petition soon.
Brazil and the airline companies in Brazil have just recovered from the financial burden that it was facing due to the pandemic. At the current time, the airline companies are still struggling hard to recover the losses that they have incurred during the pandemic times. In such a case, if the burden of a new tax is levied on them, this can get trouble for them once again. Hence, the companies are not in support of the new rule and it seems soon the matter will be in a court of law.
Though the municipality officers of the city of Sao Paulo have mentioned that the tax justifies the amount of noise and air pollution that is incurred by the aviation industry, the financial conditions of the airline companies at the moment are also something that is a matter of concern. So, it all depends on whether both parties come to a mutual conclusion or not.
